Violet Eyes
by ThatFlyingEagle
Summary: The Reaper War is over but the galaxy has reverted back to its corrupted old ways. Without the Shepard, the wartime alliances have hit rough times, only the war heroes of the old Normandy keeping the fragility of the galaxy from collapsing completely. A new threat rises from within and a dead spectre rises from the ashes to fight it. Rated M for Language, Adult themes and Violence.
1. Ten Years

**So I have recently finished my third play through of the Mass Effect series, one for each of the incredibly disappointing endings, despite the extended cuts. All through out, I had this story building itself in my head, so now I publish it for you to read!**

**I really can't produce a reliable update schedule at this time, as I am also continuing my HTTYD story Warm Days, but I am comfortable saying that this story takes precedence. **

* * *

The scope barely swayed in the wind as the salarian emerged from the shuttle. A rat from the STG who had somehow managed to convince a group of extremists that he could re-engineer the genophage. What a fool. When the case came up for assignment, it had initially been speculated that Zaia would have a personal stake, given that she had helped end the genophage, but she assured the Council that it would not be an issue. It wouldn't be. She was unsure why the bastards even cared.

As she slowly compressed the trigger, the Javelin in her grip began to charge. Her timing was perfect; as soon as the fool stopped to give an order, his head disappeared. The superheated slug fired from the rifle caused it to explode, the blood shower covering two of his companions. Zaia grinned into the scope as she watched the morons running about as if the gods were raining justice upon them. Might as well be the truth.

She backed away behind the rocky debris that was the majority of Tuchanka's landscape and proceeded to an LZ, where a tiny ship awaited. The pilot was a tall, young asari. A hundred and ninety years old. Quiet. Dependable. Zaia hadn't bothered to learn her name. Pilots for her didn't last long, mostly due to personal issues. Not everyone agreed with the type of missions Shepard specialized in.

Most pilots were as eager as children outside a candy store when they heard that they got to fly for the Galactic Hero Zaia Shepard. They were all smiles and "yes ma'am!" for the first mission. Only five lasted past that. Only two have lasted to the third mission. Assassination was something not many people were comfortable with these days, and Zaia was the best.

This asari had lasted six missions, one short of the pilot record. She was definitely different than the pilots before her. She asked very few questions and was excellent at her job. Pulled Zaia out of a real clusterfuck on Dukanna with some inspired moves. Previous record holder, some turian, got shot during a pickup, and Zaia had to fly herself home.

She jumped into the ship and took a seat, giving the pilot the signal to take off, which she did. Missions on Tuchanka sucked due to the weather and the nasty fauna, but missions were missions. Zaia dealt with it well.

"Destination?" The pilot chimed in over the comm. Her voice was soft, yet had substance. Bet if she tried, she could be a hell of a military leader or politician. Course, Zaia might end up assassinating her if that happened.

"Citadel." She answered smoothly. The pilot hit the pedal and the small infiltrator zoomed up from the planets surface. Always a bumpy ride through the atmosphere, but thirty minutes out, the comm opened up again.

"Initiating Mass Relay jump in 5...4...3...2...1...and we are a go." The pilot said as they approached the Relay. Shepard felt the slight vertigo that was always associated with mass jumps. Weird feeling. Always had been.

It had been ten years since the final battle with the Reapers, and while the galaxy enjoyed the initial feelings of victory and unity, it had quickly fallen back into the blood soaked web of lies and political maneuvering that it had been before. Humanity was the worst of them all, the people and politicians demanding that humans be given two seats on the council while every other race only has one, that all the other races must pay tribute and all that bullshit.

Claimed that because Shepard was human, Sol should be appropriately compensated for her sacrifice. Zaia had 'died' when she fired the Crucible, or so the news and reports said.

"ETA six hours." The pilot said as she set the ship to auto and emerged from the cockpit. She took a seat across from Shepard and sat there, her eyes quietly plastered on the spectre. Zaia sighed inwardly.

"What is it?" She asked. One of her strong points was knowing when someone had something to say and wasn't saying it.

"The council told me I'd be flying missions for you." She said.

"And?"

"They never told me what the missions were for. Said it was strictly confiden-"

"Assassination. Every one you've flown is assassination." Zaia interrupted. She watched as the pilots eyes widened and her skin paled a bit. A sheen of sweat soon appeared on her forehead and she swallowed hard several times. While she looked like she might want to say something, she just couldn't choke it out.

_Well, guess that's it for this pilot._ Zaia thought as she watched the pilot get up and return to the cockpit. Nothing more to do but sit and wait.

* * *

"I assume the mission was a success?" Councilor Sparatus asked. Zaia had just arrived at the Presidium tower and contacted the turian councilor. Her asari pilot had not said a word since they'd spoken, and had left as soon as Shepard got off the ship. She figured that she'd have a new pilot by the next mission.

"Do I do any less?" Zaia said smugly from her seat. She already knew the answer to that question, but she couldn't help but take a stab at the councilors every now and then. They treated her like shit when she was after Saren, and she'll never let them live it down.

"No, and it better stay that way. Credits have been forwarded to your account. I have nothing more for you." He said tiredly. Zaia cocked an eyebrow at him. "What's up your ass?" She poked humorlessly. He rubbed his eyes.

"Well, next time you arrive in the middle of the night, don't contact me unless you want our _deal_ to go sour." She stood up and began walking out of the chambers, "Whatever." She said with a wave.

Sparatus watched her go with an arrogant stare. "And the pet's collar tightens a bit more."

* * *

The bartender at Scythe's knew Zaia by name, and as such knew exactly what she was going to order before she even sat down. When most people come to the Citadel, they think of Purgatory or even Silver Coast Casino as being the places to go, but during her explorations Zaia had found Scythe. A really nice lounge that was out of the way, meaning that the countless idiots coming to and from the Citadel stayed out or went to Purgatory instead.

"Back from another mission?" Mansa asked. An asari matron, probably a good five hundred years under her belt, and the main bartender at Scythe. Zaia nodded and accepted the glass of Crystal from her. "Yeah." She replied, downing the Crystal in one quick gulp. Crystal was a brand of Thessian liquor, best compared to human tequila.

"Stressful?" She asked sultrily, her eyebrow cocked. Not only was Mansa the head bartender, but she also did work as Zaia's...stress reliever. The matrons many years of experience in the bedroom helped relax the human Spectre after trying missions.

"No," Zaia responded shortly, signaling for a refill. Mansa pouted but still poured another glass of the smooth liquor. "You know, Shepard, you keep up that attitude and I might not let you back in my bed," She complained.

"I think you mean my bed," Shepard grunted after swigging down the sweet liquid and pushing it back for more. The matron refilled the glass before pulling out five more and filling them too.

"No matter whose bed it is, you need m-" She didn't finish as she was suddenly staring down the barrel of one of Shepard's two favorite M-5 Phalanx pistols, the spectres fist gripping her dress.

"Don't you ever fucking _imagine_ that I need anything, Mansa. Especially from you." She hissed in a low, dangerous tone. The bartender, having seen this outburst plenty of times before, simply shrugged, waving off the guard who started for his gun. "I'll be here when you want me." She said before leaving, the bottle of Crystal remaining in front of the angry spectre. She downed the five glasses remaining and grabbed the bottle, staggering over to one of the curtained rooms and collapsing on the couch. She barely registered Mansa coming in before her eyes closed.

XXX

"How goes the repairs?" Dr. Liara T'Soni asked. The many quarian workers turned and greeted her warmly as the foreman approached. "Work goes fast, doctor. With the quick analysis by the geth, we were quickly able to discern the problem with the dome. We should be done by this time tomorrow." He said happily.

The work on the Rannoch Puradomes was, at first, a tall order at best. When Liara dug out plans for such domes among another set of Prothean archives found _inside_ the massive Olympus Mons volcano on Mars, the galaxy was skeptical. These blueprints suggested the construction of colossal domes that, through a system of careful eezo exposure and filtering, would be filled with the cleanest oxygen possible.

When she brought it to the councils attention, the practicality and application of such huge projects was brought into question. Councilors Tevos and Cooper, the current human Councilor, argued that in no way would these domes help anyone. Liara had a different idea. With some modification to the plans, and the addition of cutting edge decontamination systems, these domes could bring about one of the greatest dreams of an entire race: the quarians.

With these domes, it might be possible that quarians could live inside them-without suits. It was initially believed that such a thing wouldn't be possible for another hundred years or so, but the Puradome project made such a thing possible in less than a few months!

The key was that the domes themselves were in fact not synthetic material, but a type of organic film, rigid but capable of permeability. In her studies, Liara had discovered that the membranes contain billions upon billions of microbes that filter contaminants out of oxygen, leaving only the purest form to pass through inside. A marvelous invention really, rivaling that of the mass relays in its importance.

"Good work. What was the issue?" Liara asked. The quarian engineer scratched his helmet, and Liara surmised that he may have been a little ashamed under his helmet. "We...we uh...we sort of overloaded the crane and the engine blew..."

Liara crossed her arms on her chest. "Would you like to elaborate on how you did that?" She asked sweetly. The quarian squirmed a bit as he looked at the ground. "Well...a lot of us wanted to get up to the top of the dome...so we packed twice the weight of the crane." He said, ashamed in full now.

Liara sighed and kneaded her temples, trying desperately to maintain her carefully constructed patience. "Captain...if you could please refrain from over excitement , we could get this dome completed in a reasonable amount of time." She said, exasperation clear in her voice. The quarian nodded and glumly returned to his work.

This type of thing was happening all over the place as the exuberant quarians could not wait for their new domes. Most of the thirteen million left in the population tried to sign on to help, seeing it as a race-wide initiative. Only problem was that a lot of those people are not trained electricians or engineers, leading to errors and setbacks, much like this one.

Liara continued on through the construction zone to a shuttle and asked to be brought to the main command center. Each dome was huge in scale, designed to accommodate populations of around two to four million each. The trip from where she was to the central hub took fifteen minutes at least. This dome, set to be named Geen Pak, would be the first to be completed since the plans were put into motion four years ago, and would become the new capital of the quarian people. Across this continent there are two others domes, Deel Pak eighty percent, and Hele Pak sixty nine percent complete, respectively.

Liara thanked the shuttle pilot and proceeded into the center. A large building, it served as the command center now, but when the city finally was finished, it would be the seat of government. Inside, hundreds of quarians and geth pored over blueprints, supply reports and accident reports. It was of those reports that Liara had just answered.

"Anything wrong, Liara?" Came the sweet voice of one Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Liara's best friend, confidant and second in command for the Puradome project. Placing some datapads on her desk, Liara shook her head with a smile. "Not really. Some workers getting too excited is all. Any progress reports from the other domes?"

Tali shook her head. "No, but Auntie Raan sent someone interesting our way," She began, her voice notably getting annoyed, "Come in!" She called. Liara turned to the door on the opposite side of the office and practically squealed with glee, running over and throwing Garrus Vakarian in a tight hug.

"Garrus! Oh I haven't seen you for almost a year now!" She rambled with delight, "How are you!?" Garrus laughed as her hug seemed to never end. "Oh, you know. Breaking hearts and saving damsels is my style, Liara." He chuckled.

"Only one heart you're breaking in here, Vakarian." Said a very disgruntled Tali. Liara squeaked with surprise when she was suddenly dropped from her embrace. Garrus had a frightened look on his face. "Oh come on now. I tried to get here sooner..." He started in his defense, but Tali was a lot sharper than him.

"Tried nothing! I saw the traffic between Palaven and Rannoch! You could have been here two months ago!" She snapped. Liara cringed at this exchange. She had discovered something about Tali very soon after the war that had not been common knowledge: she had a _temper_. And when it was stoked, take cover.

"Alright, so I might have detoured to take a look at some intel. Nothing serious, okay?" He answered helplessly. Tali just looked away from him, her arms still across her chest. "What intel, Garrus?" Liara asked, deciding to take some of the heat off her old friend. She watched him smirk and sneak up behind Tali.

"Intel on some new antibiotics for this beauty!" He exclaimed, picking Tali up and spinning her around to face him. Liara had to laugh at this image. With her arms still across her chest, Tali's feet hung a good foot off the ground, her mask an inch away from Garrus' mandibles. "Your welcome," He said against the mask.

Tali did not move. "Which antibiotic?" She asked gruffly. Garrus smirked as much as he possibly could. "Heraproxis." He said smugly. Tali screamed and threw her arms around him. "How did you find it! Where was it! Did it cost much! Who sold it to you! When ca-" She stopped when a single talon pressed against her mask.

"Relax. It's not a lot of product right now, but the intel was solid. I think I know where to find a manufacturer." He said. Liara raised her hand as if she was in class at Serrice again. Garrus cast a questioning look at her. "Uh...yes, Miss T'Soni?"

"As much of an expert I am in ruins and Protheans, and as long as I have known Tali, I find myself wondering what Heraproxis does for quarians." She asked, assuming the innocent school girl voice that drove Tali crazy. "Don't do that, Liara." Tali snipped as Garrus put her down, his transgressions apparently forgiven for the moment. "Heraproxis is basically the queen of antibiotics. With a single dose, it can nearly eliminate any issues with being out of the suit for between two and six hours. Its the god drug for quarians, but extremely rare." Liara nodded in understanding. She may have heard mention of it a few times, but if it is so rare it makes sense that it has not come up more alarmingly.

"Garrus, why were you looking for this specific drug?" Liara asked, and was a little worried when Garrus turned away, as if in embarrassment. Tali took a stance that looked very much like the engineer captain. Ashamed.

"There was a small stash of it aboard the Normandy all those years ago...and it sort of let us get Tali out the suit for...scandalous, activity..." Garrus mumbled. Liara bit her lip as the outrageous laughter threatened to burst forth from her. To think that the honorable turian and the very straight shot quarian took high end antibiotics to have sex.

"When did this start?" Liara posed innocently. Tali shifted nervously again, "Er...right before Ilos?" She ventured, her voice clearly hopeful that Liara would not find this as selfish as she herself probably thought. The young asari held back her misgivings, deciding to make Tali explain later. "Well, love makes people do strange things." She sighed.

Tali nudged Garrus in the torso, causing him to shoot a glare at her. The quarian subtly nodded her head towards the scientist, and Garrus sighed as he stepped forward. "Um...Liara, how are you doing? With...you know..."

"My children?" Liara finished for him, knowing exactly where the conversation was going. "They are fine, Garrus. With my father right now, until I can get some time to go back to Thessia. Thank you for your concern." She said with a forced smile.

Liara sighed again as her mind drifted to her two daughters, living with Matriarch Aethyta at the T'Soni mansion back on the asari homeworld. Her poor girls who were forced to go months at a time without their mother...

"If you want to talk, Liara..." Tali ventured, placing a comforting hand on the scientists' shoulders. Liara shook her head. "No, I'd rather not talk about them," She protested with a small smile, "Thank you for offering though, Tali." The quarian nodded and Liara could have sworn that she was frowning under the mask.

Regaining her composure, the scientist smiled brightly, "Alright then! Back to Heraproxis. Garrus, what did the intel have?" She asked. The turian grinned wildly, "The intel told me that there is a good chance that I could find a manufacturer, or better yet, a recipe in the Shadow Sea. I managed to get my hands on about a half ton of the stuff on Omega, too."

Tali leaned back against the wall, "Omega? Aria just let you swoop in and take a half ton of expensive antibiotics, along with intel on where to make more?" She asked incredulously. Garrus nodded, "Oh yeah. She's the one who provided the intel. The Queen of Omega remembers who her friends are, Tali. Especially you." Tali pointed to herself in disbelief. "Me? Why would she remember me?"

Garrus crossed his arms, "Well Tali, I seem to remember you pulling Aria's ass out of the fire more than a few times during the Battle for Earth." He said with a smirk.

"I seem to remember that she was so pissed off that she threatened to kill me if I did it again." Tali shot back. "Tali, while Aria is insanely and sometimes ridiculously proud," Liara rolled her eyes as those words came from her mouth, "She is most certainly not stupid. She knows that without you, she probably would not be the Queen of Omega anymore." Liara said, pointing a finger at her quarian friend, "Spur of the moment? Aria is pissed beyond belief. After the fact? Grateful, but she'll never tell you that. I'm willing to bet that's why she is helping with the meds."

Tali began pacing back and forth in the office, and slowly she started nodding to herself. Garrus' eyes fell with worry as he watched her. Liara seconded his obvious mindset. Rarely did Tali pace and brood like this. It had barely taken five minutes and a conversation about Aria to do this.

"I don't like this." She said finally. Liara eyed her friend with yet more concern. These days were supposed to be none but happy for the quarians, Tali especially. She helped organize the squabbling politicians about the practicality of the Puradomes, and helped resolve the single biggest schism in history since the Morning War.

It was less an argument between quarians, and more an argument between scientists. When Liara came forward with the revised plans for the domes, one Admiral Xen took particular offense to the fact that it was an asari who had come forward. Pooling her supporters, Xen said that they would never support the project because it was an attempt by the asari to contain and control the reborn quarians.

That wasn't the problem, because Xen was way outnumbered in the population by Liara's supporters. The problem came when Xen ended up dead. She was found in her home, seemingly nothing wrong, but she was dead. No foul play involved at all. No bullet holes, stab or slash wounds, poison, nothing. She was just...dead. Someone began a rumor that Liara had found an undetectable way to kill quarians, and had simply removed her opposition.

Tali calmed the rioting people down, convincing them that there was no way that Liara would ever assassinate someone. Assassination was something the entire galaxy frowned upon, and Tali knew that there was no way Liara would ever associate with it. The Admiralty board exonerated Liara of the charges, and life went on without a hitch, the quarian people now more united than ever.

"Why not honey?" Garrus asked. Tali kept pacing. "I don't like this because it places the quarian people in debt to Aria T'Loak. I don't like having to owe that woman a favor. I know that she told us that we would always be allies, but still, owing her a favor is not what I want."

Liara was going to second Tali's concerns, but Garrus started speaking before her. "Aria said you might think that," He began and started tapping buttons of his omni-tool. "I just forwarded you the message Aria left with me." He smiled as he heard the beep of Tali's omni. Liara chuckled to herself; the Queen of Omega was a far more intuitive and intelligent person than most people have her credit for.

Tali sighed in relief, leaning her head against Garrus' chest. "Oh alright. I'll look at it later. Liara and I still have some work to do today Garrus. We'll meet you back at the house. Make yourself comfy."

Liara was surprised when she heard the faint click and release of pressure as Tali plucked her mask off and kissed Garrus on his scar. "I'll see you later." She said softly, replacing the mask as quickly as it had come off.

Garrus whispered something to her before coming over and giving Liara another hug. "Looking forward to it. Have a good day, you two." The turian sniper waved as he left the room. Tali watched him go with a happy sigh.

"Good to see him again after so long." Liara mused, turning her attention to some data-pads. Tali nodded and returned to her own desk. "You can say that again." The asari scientist grinned.

"Good to see him again after so long."

"I didn't mean that literally!"

XXX

The sickening feeling off the morning came to Zaia much sooner than she wanted it to, and it had been doing that for years. Mornings sucked for the spectre, each day bringing more pain and pointlessness to her existence. Morning sucks even more when an annoying councilor keeps ringing the fucking doorbell.

Shepard rolled out of bed and fiddled with her omni-tool, bringing up the comm. "What do you want, Tevos?" She mumbled into the tool, more pissed off than usual.

"How did you know it was me?" The asari councilor asked. Shepard rolled her eyes as she fumbled around in the dark looking for some clothes. "Who the fuck else knows where I live? For that case, who the fuck else knows I'm even _alive?_" She shot back irritably. Finding a robe, she threw it on haphazardly and descended the stairs of her apartment.

"Relax. You went out to Scythe's again last night. You're hungover." Tevos said. Zaia swore loudly when she banged her toe off a wall. "What of it? You took everything else away from me, you going to take alcohol too?"

"Be quiet and let me in. People will start wondering why there's a councilor outside the door of a supposedly abandoned apartment." Tevos warned. Zaia chuckled sourly. "Apartment? I'm sure you mean hovel, councilor." She grumbled viciously before hitting the lock on the door. It slid open to let Councilor Tevos into the small room that served as Shepard's kitchen, living room and dining room.

"Welcome to the lap of luxury." Shepard said rudely, flopping down on the couch and closing her eyes. Tevos looked around the apartment with a sigh. "Shepard, you must understand that you are a key asset to the Galactic Council. We cannot have you drinking yourself to death." She said, her voice infuriatingly calm.

"Key asset? Bullshit. You people are holding me here on the threat of hurting my family, half of whom I have never met. Don't come here trying to tell me that you _like_ me." Zaia scoffed. She noticed with some satisfaction that Tevos' calm expression fell for a moment, maybe something akin to regret replacing it. Shepard decided not to let her say anything.  
"What the fuck would alcohol do anyway? How much of me is cybernetics now, Tevos?" She demanded. The councilor blanched and swallowed nervously. "I don't think that is app-"

"How much, Tevos?" Zaia asked again, slowly, her bright violet eyes piercing into Tevos' own. The councilor's shoulders slumped and she swore under her breath. "Forty-two percent." She mumbled. Zaia placed a cupped hand next to her ear. "What was that again? I couldn't hear you."

"Forty-two percent of you is cybernetics now, Shepard!" Tevos yelled angrily, breaking the ever so calm demeanor that was the base of the asari councilors political facade. It was rarely tested, but Shepard found that she had no problems shattering it.

"Forty-two percent. Tell me: does my liver receive any damage from alcohol?" Zaia asked. She knew the answer, but making Tevos say it helped get her point across.

"No. Your liver is almost completely artificial now. Alcohol will do nothing to it." Tevos grunted, her face now contorted into one of anger and disgust. "Exactly. Don't lecture me about alcohol. It's the only thing that doesn't hurt anymore," Shepard muttered. "Now what do you want?" She asked. The councilor straightened out her disheveled robes, made all crinkly from yelling, and stood tall. "We have another assignment for you."

Shepard mouth dropped wide open. "Another one? I just got back!" She protested. Tevos shook her head and pointed at the holo of a calendar on the wall. "That was a week ago, Shepard. Spending all your time at Scythe makes you unaware of the passage of time." She said, her voice returning to its calculated tone.

"Damn...what this time?" Shepard asked, heading back up the stairs to her bedroom, the councilor following. Upon reaching her closet, she ripped the clothes out of the way and tapped a small panel at the back, opening a small compartment which housed her combat suit. Grabbing a string, she tied up her red hair to avoid getting it stuck in the armor clasps.

"I'm sure you remember Feros, correct?"

"Yeah. Shithole in the Attican Beta. Thorian was there, massive pain in the ass, that one. What about it?" Shepard replied from the closed closet. "A new human colony was founded there a few weeks ago, called Tiber, and the official ceremony is in four days. We have reason to believe that the elected leader of this colony is one Oriana Lawson, an-"

"No. I won't kill Oriana." Shepard interrupted, momentarily considering removing the suit she was busily putting on. Zaia might have been bitter about life since what happened with Earth and the Council, but Oriana was a gray area: if Shepard killed her, no doubt Miranda would look into it, and Zaia did not want to have to kill Miranda too.

"Miss Lawson is not the target." Tevos replied calmly. Standing corrected, Shepard resumed tightening the buckles on the suit. "The target is Miss Lawson's personal aide, a batarian wh-"

"Hah. First mistake there, hiring a batarian." Shepard chuckled sourly. Tevos cleared her throat in annoyance. "Yes...this batarian, by the name of Loxx, appears to be funneling information about the colonies inner workings back to the Blue Suns, and we believe that the mercs are going to raid the colony once they hear about the huge financial backing behind it. Oriana herself has yet to hear about it, but as soon as she does, so does the batarian. We would like him removed."

"The Blue Suns? Thought they were wiped out on Earth." Zaia said, clipping a few remaining buckles. Zaeed was still alive, but from what she knew of him, he was still freelance. Not that he would ever go back to leading his old merc group.

"Remnants of the group survived and built up their numbers again." Tevos answered.

Shepard stepped out of the closet, throwing her trench coat over the high tech uniform. "Sounds simple enough. Why am I headed out now? It only takes a day to get there, then another few hours for the kill." She said, letting loose her hair and proceeding downstairs to the kitchen.

Tevos crinkled her brow as she followed. "We think that you may need to do some recon of the area first. This is not as simple as aim and shoot." She said, her calm disposition not faltering in the least. . "Why not? It's always that simple."

"Not so, Shepard. This colony has been founded _inside_ a massive skyscraper found to be nigh invincible in its stability. This kill will have to take place in a hallway or stairwell. There is in fact no space large enough for a long distance kill," She explained. "And there is one large other problem."

"What might that be?" Shepard groaned sarcastically. The councilor clicked something and searched through her omni-tool, pulling up an image of a green skinned asari. "Do you remember this asari?"

"Yeah. Shiala. Saren gave her to the fucking Thorian as a slave in exchange for information regarding the Prothean Cipher. After we freed her, she gave it to me too. Why?"

Tevos closed the image and clasped her hands in front of her. "Shiala is a gifted commando, and the personal security officer for Oriana, and indirectly, of Loxx. This is dangerous."

"Explain." Shepard demanded, heading to another small panel in her kitchen. After pressing a few buttons, the kitchen counters flipped, revealing Zaia's personal armory. The weapons of war here would make a turian general wet himself.

"Shiala has melded minds with you, correct?"

"Well yeah, that's obvious." Shepard scoffed, perusing her stock of throwing knives and blades. Scorpion blades were perfect for hallway kills, and throwing knives would be good on the rare chance that she actually got into a protracted combat situation with multiple hostiles. Only happened twice in ten years, and throwing blades saved her ass both those times.

"When some asari meld, that persons...aura is imprinted on her mind," Tevos explained. "This aura is like a memory. So when that asari lays eyes on someone who they have melded with, they will instantly know who that person is. In this case, if Shiala sees you, she will know that it is you."

Shepard laughed. "That isn't exactly an issue for me, Tevos." The councilor shifted her feet, getting a little tired of this bullshit that she had to deal with every time she spoke to the spectre. "It is an issue if this security officers finds a dead spectre in the new colony. Do not let her see you." She warned.

"I've never heard of this aura memory before. Care to shed some light." It was more demand than question. "It is somewhat like Ardat-Yakshi; a recessive gene only displayed by some asari, this one far less dangerous." She answered, short and to the point.

"Tell me: does this little aura of yours pop up on video?"

Tevos' eyes rose in confusion. "What does it matter? That hardly seems relevant." She quipped. Shepard turned and gave her a sharp stare. "Oh, it is relevant. See, if it pops up on video, that means I have a whole lot more work to do. Can't have Shiala recognizing me on security vids." She said. This is where her talent as an assassin came in. These were the small details that made Zaia a professional. Not like the idiots on Omega who think that killing someone for money makes them professional assassins.

"Shiala is Miss Lawson's personal security officer. She won't have access to colony security vids." Tevos said, her eyes wide with curiosity. Shepard swore at the gun she had chosen, remembering that the trigger jammed and she had forgotten to fix it.

"You don't understand. As a security officer, Shiala is compelled by contract to protect her detail, which is Oriana and Loxx. When Loxx turns up dead, Shiala will use all her resources to find the killer. First step: security vids. That's basic, Tevos."

The councilor visibly bristled at the petty insult. "No, the gene does not activate through video. Anyway. Get to Tiber, do the recon, avoid Shiala and kill Loxx. You have six days."

Shepard smirked as she picked out her weapons, putting them into specific holsters in her jacket. "I'll only need three."

* * *

**How did you like it? Please let me know in a review or PM, and Chapter 2 will be posted in a few days!**


	2. Anger and Grief

**I'm glad that so many of you enjoyed it!**

**Many thanks to Robert(Guest), Zizania, MiizBHavvin, GUEST and Theodur for your kind reviews! Now, ladies, gentleman and krogan, Chapter 2!**

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"So, with the Puradomes almost finished, are you going to have a chance to go back to Thessia?" Garrus asked, sipping the cocktail in his talons. Liara and her two friends were sitting on the small sofa in Tali's prefab home, sipping on drinks while they caught up. Tali and Garrus preferred to have cocktails while Liara settled for some harmless fruit juice.

"A chance? Oh goddess no. There are so many things to be done, even after the Puradomes are finished. All the logistics and necessities..." Liara shook her head as all the things that needed to be done, and countless more things that would become necessary built up in her mind.

"Nonsense. The second Geen Pak is finished, you're going back to your daughters, Liara. The situation is not your fault." Tali said, her voice bitter and sad at the same time. Garrus raised his glass to that. "We'll always be here for you and your daughters, Liara. I can't believe how people treat you." He muttered. "The galaxy is a wreck, and all people find the time to do is criticize you. Your childrens father died to save us all, and what do people do? Demonize you for not being able to stay at home." He finished, taking a long drink from his cocktail. Tali quickly agreed and sipped from her own drink. Liara sipped hers with a small smile, thinking about her children.

"That war took so much from us...to those who we have lost." Tali mumbled raising her glass. Garrus raised his drink, and Liara as well. "To Kaidan. To Thane. To Mordin. To Anderson, to those countless others, and most of all...to Shepard. We thank you for giving your lives for this galaxy." Garrus declared, finishing off the rest of his cocktail. Tali did the same while Liara just sipped on the juice she was enjoying. At the mention of Shepard's name, Liara had to fight to try and keep her tears from spilling out of her eyes. Tali leaned over and hugged her friend, the quarians' quiet sobs joining Liara's.

Garrus was trying to maintain his cool and hardened turian disposition, but even he could not help but shed a tear for his fallen friends. Shepard had done the impossible. Twice. She had pulled them all through the Sovereign crisis alive, only losing Kaidan to a tragic decision. Then she came back from the dead to inspire them all to survive Harbinger and the Collector base. Unfortunately, her luck had run out by the time the real menace arrived.

She tried her hardest, but she lost Thane to an assassins blade. Then on the same day, she was almost forced to kill Ashley, due to Udina's betrayal. Thank the gods that both women managed to keep cool heads and only Udina died. Then Mordin sacrificed himself to end the genophage. Heroic, but tragic.

To put a head on it all, Anderson and Shepard were the only two people to make it aboard the Citadel in the Battle for Earth. Anderson's body was found in the wreckage, but Shepard's was not. The assumption was that the explosion had all but annihilated her body.

After a few minutes of silent memory, Liara insisted that they move on to better subjects. Grieving was something that they always managed to get to when together, but it was moving past it so easily that really defined their peace on the topic.

"So Garrus...the wedding. When am I going to receive my invitation?" Liara asked with a smirk. Garrus cast a curious glance her way. "Wedding?" He asked innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Tali giggled and snuggled into the turians side. She might be the only person alive who found Garrus' bony plates comfortable to snuggle against. "I already told her, honey." She whispered to him, giggling some more. "You could have told me that before I tried to play it off with my tough, scary turian disposition..." He grumbled. Tali laughed animatedly. "Oh boo hoo. You're like a kakliosaur, Garry. All spines and scariness on the outside, but take away your gun and armor, and you're just a big pony, waiting to be ridden," She said, her voice getting softer. "...and speaking of being ridden..." She added sultrily, her hand snaking under the shirt that Garrus wore.

Liara took that as her cue to leave. "Alright, you two have a good night, I'll see myself out." She said, quickly getting up and heading for the door. She heard Garrus attempting to say good night, but his voice was suddenly muffled, something hitting the floor at the same time. Tali had clearly discarded her mask and had claimed the turians face.

Garrus could not 'kiss' in the traditional sense of the word, but he would never deny Tali her wishes to try. When she started on him, he didn't say a word, not opening his beak-like mouth for fear of biting and hurting her delicate face.

Liara closed the door of the prefab quietly, smirking as she heard more things, undoubtedly clothes, hitting walls and floors. The evening was warm and the stars shone brightly above. Not like it was a far way to go to home. Her own prefab, slightly larger than Tali's, sat not fifty yards away.

The quick walk being over with, Liara unlocked her home and went inside, flicking on a set of dimmed lights. She wasn't a fan of bright lights inside homes. Thought that it blinded visitors and owners more than anything, so she always got dimmers installed.

Shedding her day clothes, she put on a comfortable asari robe that her father had given to her. She often slept in it, but on really hot nights she would just sleep in nothing. She made sure to lock the door those nights. Glyph helped as well, acting as a guard dog of her premises.

Tonight was a special night though, so it was not just straight to bed with a book or something. Sitting down in front of a large monitor that she had set up, Liara dialed a vid call to the T'Soni estate back on Thessia. She had grown familiar with the time difference between Rannoch and her home world. Her two girls should be finishing dinner right about now.

The call rang only once before it was answered by a bouncing little blue face. "Mommy! Mommy called, grandpa!" Little Imali cheered. Liara could not help but tear up as she watched her daughter jumping around ecstatically in front of the screen. She heard a bark in the background. "Imali! Get back in here and finish your dinner this instant!" Aethyta's voice rang out.

Imali made a scrunched up face at someone off screen, no doubt her grandfather. "I wanna talk to mommy though! Dinner is yucky tonight anyway!"

"You listen here, upstart, you ju-" Aethyta started, but Liara felt her intervention might be a bit more effective.

"Imali. Go finish your dinner dear. After you're done, get your sister and you can both talk to me for the next two hours." She said, smiling at her little daughter. Without saying a word, Imali rushed off screen, screaming for her sister.

"Geez. I could use biotics and still not get them to listen that fast. You're proving to be pretty good at this parenting thing, kid." Matriarch Aethyta said as she sat down on the couch in front of the screen.

"Hello, father. It's good to see you well." Liara said with a smile and a blown kiss. Her father returned the gesture, something that all the members of House T'Soni had gotten into the habit of doing. "You too, kid. How are things with the domes? Getting along nicely?"

Liara nodded. "Yes. We expect Geen Pak to be done by the end of the month." Aethyta smiled.

"That's always good. When do you come back here?"

"Well, Tali had just assured me that I will be forcibly expelled from Rannoch if I'm not gone the day after Geen Pak is opened. So...the end of the month." Liara said, a grin forcing its way onto her face as the idea of spending a few months with her family began to sink in.

"That's wonderful. Just great. The little devils have kept me on the go ever since you left again. Even Shiala was getting a bit frustrated before she got a request for security."

Liara cocked her head, her eyes wide in surprise. "She got a security request? From who?" She asked. Shiala was a well known commando as one of Benezia's retainers. Even now, in service to house T'Soni and to Liara specifically, she still got requests to help people now and then. Liara had given the woman complete autonomy to accept whatever work she wanted to.

"She sent you a message, but I'm going to guess that it got washed up in all the logistics and planning and all that crap." Aethyta remarked. "Not your fault, but you should set up a private inbox for all of us here so that doesn't happen. The request came from Oriana Lawson. She said she knew you."

Liara thought for a moment. "Yes...while fighting Cerberus on Sanctuary, we ran into Oriana and Miranda's father. We liberated them from him. What did she want?"

Aethyta pulled a datapad from a drawer and scanned through it. "Apparently, she's been elected as the leader of some new human colony on Feros and wanted a good security officer. It's only listed to be for a few weeks. Shiala was her first and only choice. They left here the day before yesterday." Aethyta finished, putting the datapad away just as two screaming balls of energy flew onto screen.

"Mommy!" Came the simultaneous screams from Liara's two daughters. She laughed at their antics, which was no doubt getting on her fathers nerves. "Hi loves! How are my girls doing?" She asked. The two girls suddenly began whispering, then stood exactly side by side.

"Can you guess who is who, mom?" They asked in unison. Liara chuckled to herself. "Lets see here..." She trailed off, feigning confusion as she closely observed the two who were really identical in every way. Just not to her. "Well, it looks like Imali is on the left and Vasha is on the right. Am I correct, loves?" She laughed as her daughters pouted.

"Mom! When are we going to be able to fool you?" Vasha asked adorably. "You'll never fool your mom, fuzzballs." Aethyta quipped from the couch. The two girls spun around and jumped on their grandfather, trying to wrestle the thousand year old asari. In the end, each of them floated a foot off the ground, their grandfather handling them with one hand.

"Play nice, girls." Liara warned humorously. Imali pointed a finger at the couch. "Tell grandpa to play nice! She always cheats and uses biotics!" She protested. Both her mother and grandfather burst into laughter, as did both young girls. At a word from Liara, both of them were placed on the couch, sitting on either side of Aethyta, who had her arms around their shoulders.

"Now tell me: how is school going?" Liara asked, settling in for her favorite part of every week. The family call sometimes only lasted for an hour, and sometimes it had gone for six hours. Liara hoped this one would be six.

XXX

Zaia marched through the docking bay in one of the more abandoned parts of the wards. Hardly anyone notably used this bay, so this is where Shepard had chosen to keep her ship. She just hoped that her new pilot wasn't batarian.

She was actually quite pleased with the way she would be traveling for this mission. With no sniper rifle required, she was felt almost weightless as she moved. Her only weapons took the form of an assortment of serrated blades, poison, and her two Phalanx pistols.

It had been a good while since she was given a chance to make a kill up close and personal. Not ever to be confused of course, she much preferred sniper kills, but you have to do what you have to do. This mission would take a little longer than she liked, but the presence of Shiala made it all the more challenging. Zaia was the best assassin in the galaxy, and challenges were rare. This would be a fun one. Something to take her mind off the rest of her life.

Rounding the corner, she saw her ship, the engine humming and ready to go. As she approached, the hatch opened, the cool air from inside wafting over her as she entered. She preferred her ship to be nice and cool. Heat was not okay with her.

_Moment of truth_. She thought as she entered the main compartment. To her surprise, the tall asari sat in the cockpit, looking back at her as she came in. "Shepard." She said in greeting with a respectful nod. Zaia let her stare linger for a minute before sitting down. "Huh. You're still here. Fancy that. Anyway, we're headed to Feros. Make it snappy." She said, reaching into the cupboard and fishing out a mango, her favorite fruit. Horrendously expensive on the Citadel, but worth every credit.

"Setting course for Feros. Any specific location?" The pilot asked through the comm. Shepard tapped her ear, activating her headset. "Tiber. Make our landing as inconspicuous as possibly. If they ask, we're interested investors." She answered.

"Course reset for Tiber. Headed for the relay." Came the reply. Zaia waited on the deck for the vertigo of relay travel to kick in. It wouldn't be for another little while, but she couldn't relax until it was done. While she waited, she activated her omni-tool and went over a brief dossier on this Loxx guy. From what she was reading, he was as straight laced as a batarian possibly could be. Not even any slave trading in his past. Reading further, she did a double take at a name that was listed at the very bottom as someone that Loxx had done business with. Kimmvo Schlauss, a human man who made a fortune in the Terminus Systems as a slave trader. Not just any slaves though; children.

"...sick fucker..." She mumbled to herself, finishing the dossier and not finding anything else interesting. Closing it, she tapped a few more buttons and pulled up a full layout of the Tiber colony, frowning at it. Not a single hallway that was more than seventy feet long in any direction. That's good. Tight quarters then. Chances are that people will be too tightly packed to see a quick poison tipped blade flash into a passing batarian.

The colony was situated between the 253rd and and the 290th floors of the massive tower. The middle eleven floors, 266 to 277 served as the public floors housing businesses and stores, along with a whole floor that housed a park. This left thirteen floors above and below which served as the home floors, all the rooms being reconstructed into apartments.

Looking through the floors, Zaia found herself lingering on the park floor. The lab grown and imported flora could provide the best cover for a hit. At the same time, it could be a killing ground. The schematics pointed out that every door leading into this park had a three foot thick, two foot long tungsten deadbolt. Not even a biotically charged, pissed off krogan could break that down. Most likely, the park doubled as a recreational zone and as a lockdown sanctuary.

Switching screens, she checked up on where the leadership quarters were. Tucked in tight on floor 282, these state rooms were much larger than the regular apartments and, to her extreme surprise, each featured an automated security turret.

"Well shit. I wasn't planning on having to hack turrets..." She said absently.

"Plotting coordinates...initiating Mass Relay jump in 5...4...3...2...1...go." Said the voice over the comm, and the expected vertigo followed not a second after. Unbuckling herself, Shepard sprawled out on the seats, her eyes still plastered to the screen of the pad. She heard the whir of the cockpit door as the pilot stepped out, no doubt having engaged the auto-pilot. Shepard flickered her eyes to the asari, who was calmly preparing herself something to eat at the tiny kitchenette that was housed in the ship. When they commissioned this infiltrator, the Council took great care to make sure that it had all the facilities of another certain frigate that Shepard had been used to. Basically, this small ship was a tiny Normandy, fit to be entirely run by only one person. In this cabin area, a small galaxy map stood, along with the kitchenette, a table, two wall hugging couches and some bunks. Behind the galaxy map there was a small bathroom and shower.

At full capacity, the ship, which was called Fallen Angel, could hold a cramped ten people. In comfort, it could hold four. The name was obviously some sort of sick sense of humor entertained by the Council.

"Tell me," Shepard began, her eyes still on the pilot. "Does this ship have a cyberwarfare suite?" She asked. She may have hated Cerberus with all her heart, and taken nothing but happiness and glee in killing their operatives, but the cyberwar suite on the SR-2 had been a lifesaver on more than ten occasions. The Council had dubbed AI's illegal though, and after EDI perished with the Reapers, there was no such AI left out there.

The pilot thought for a moment and shook her head. "No, nothing like that. What do you need a cyberwar suite for?" She asked, taking a sip from whatever she had grabbed from the fridge.

"Hacking security turrets." Shepard answered simply. She glanced over and caught the slight blanching of the asari's face as she no doubt thought about assassination again. Then her face brightened again. "No. This ship has nothing that can help you. The Council didn't want anything like that."

"Useless." Shepard groaned, returning her attention to the datapad. The pilot thought for a moment before looking back at the spectre. Her eyes were curiously full and determined. "Is this another assassination?" She asked quietly. Shepard didn't even look up from the pad. "Yes. I rarely do anything else."

"Is that why you were so surprised to see me when you came aboard today?"

"Yep. I thought after you practically turned into a ghost when I told you last time that you would be long gone." Shepard answered, making mental notes about the locations of security posts.

"Do you want to know why I came back?" Shepard let the datapad fall onto her breasts, her eyes on the hull above her. While she usually found small talk to be incredibly annoying, she was actually a little intrigued.

"Enlighten me." She answered. She heard a deep breath, followed by a few moments of silence. Apparently, the pilot had thought about this conversation. Being as interested as she was, the notoriously impatient spectre waited.

"I came back because of you." The asari said, a small smile inching onto her azure blue features. "Me?" Shepard asked, a little surprised. "Why me? I know I'm sexy, but still..."

The pilot rolled her eyes. "That's not the _only_ reason," She said with a wink, her eyes scanning over Shepard's body with a clear hunger in her eyes. "Mainly, it was because you didn't play games with me. When the Council brought me in, it was all smoke and mirrors, half answers and vague responses. The second I ask you what's going on, you tell me straight. You don't insult my intelligence."

"Explain." Shepard commanded, sitting up straight. The pilot smiled to herself before starting. "The Council told me that I was being selected for a routine pilot position. I would be running all different missions, ranging from live fire down to diplomatic transport."

Shepard couldn't help herself as her face dropped into a frown. "You didn't buy that shit, did you?"

"At first, yes. Until I met you. Then I knew I had been terribly wrong." She said, taking another drink from whatever was in the cup. "What set you off?" Shepard asked.

The asari smiled. "Well, why would a dead Spectre be running missions? Why would the Council threaten me and my family with execution if I told anyone about you being alive? I knew after the first mission that this was something unique...assassination was at the bottom of my list, but I guess it makes sense. Who better to be a killer than someone who isn't alive."

A loud ring from Shepard's omni signaled a high priority message. Not like anyone but the Council could reach her anyway. "We're not done with this conversation. Get in the cockpit." She ordered. The asari quickly complied, setting down her cup and heading back to her seat. Shepard waited until the door slid shit to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Shepard. It's Councilor Sparatus." Came the response. Zaia swore in her mind, cursing every diety of every race in existence. She hated Sparatus even more than she had hated the Illusive Man.

"Oh, joy unto me. What do you want?" She answered icily.

"You're on a mission to kill this batarian, Loxx."

"Well someone did their homework. Do you want a star, dear? Would that make you happy?" Shepard quipped innocently. She knew that it infuriated the turian councilor when she acted that way. Why, she wasn't sure, maybe he had a weird fetish, but it made him angry and that's what her goal always was when speaking to him.

"Watch your tongue. We have altered the hit." He said, his voice cracking as he tried not to explode. Shepard's eyes narrowed at his words. "Altered how?"

"We want you to kill Oriana Lawson as we-"

"Kiss my ass. I already told Tevos that I wouldn't kill Lawson. Bye." Shepard reached to end the call before she threw herself out the airlock, but Sparatus was quick to respond.

"Tevos agreed to this as well. This is part of your debt, Shepard. Remember that." He said. Shepard's eyes narrowed even more. Something about how the councilor said that sounded fishy. He almost sounded...pleased.

"Have each councilor call me and confirm." She muttered, "If even one expresses a doubt, this won't happen." Shepard added icily. If Sparatus wanted to make a threat, he never got the chance as the call ended. Zaia sat in her seat, steam practically rolling from every pore of her body.

The cockpit door slid open as the pilot came and sat back down, her face twisted in a fearful scowl. "Are you going to do it?" She asked firmly. Shepard took a few deep breathes to calm down before trying to answer. "No."

"What if the Council really does want you to do it?"

"Then they will have a rogue on their hands." Shepard retorted, some of her anger seeping out in her voice. The same type of anger that helped her survive on the streets of Earth years ago. The same anger that got her into N7 when she was only sixteen. The same anger that drove the annihilation of a race that was more than a billion years old.

Another ring on Shepard's omni signaled a call. The asari started back to the cockpit, but a snap on Shepard's fingers grabbed her attention. The spectre shook her head and nodded to the seat, asking the pilot to stay. The asari sat back down quietly.

"Hello?" Shepard said as she answered.

"Shepard!"

"Tevos, what the fuck is going on? You want me to kill Oriana too?" Shepard asked scathingly. The pilot jumped in surprise at how casually and...disrespectfully Shepard addressed council members.

"Don't mind Sparatus, Shepard. He's just trying to pull your chain." The asari councilor said, a chuckle escaping from her lips.

"Yeah. Real fucking funny. Is that really all he's doing?" Shepard demanded, her face twisting into a furious scowl. There was a lot on the line for her, so she didn't want to unnecessarily piss off the turian councilor. He had her entire existence in his talons.

"You remind your colleagues, Tevos...I won't be made a fool." She hissed. The asari councilor clicked her tongue in mock. "You don't have a choice, Shepard. You are the Council's _pet_. We resurrected you. We are keeping your interest safe. In exchange, you work for us, Period." The councilor word was final as she cut the call. Shepard reached into her jacket, pulling out a curved dagger and hurling it at the wall ahead of her.

"How _dare _she fucking mention that! I have done nothing but their dirty chores for ten years, and they use that as run of the mill insult material!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, grabbing another blade from her jacket and burying it in the couch, her hand turning white at her grip.

She ripped the knife out of the cushion and laid her arm down on the couch, intent on destroying the omni-tool. The fucking thing was the entire reason that bitch Tevos and her foolish friends could heckle her. She would remove that problem!

XXX

"I'm truly sorry that I never got you message. My inbox has been so full with work." Liara said apologetically. The vid comm in front of her bore the image of a beautiful, yet very green asari commando. Liara had just managed to get through to her trusted friend and commando for the first time since her father had informed her two nights ago about the security detail.

"It's fine, Mistress Liara, really. In fact, I'd almost hoped that I could complete the detail and be back in Thessia before you knew. I felt bad leaving your daughters to do something that I wanted to."

Liara shook her head furiously. "Nonsense, Shiala. You are always free to do as you please. Plus, I'm sure my father can handle her grandchildren." The scientist assured her friend. Liara was sitting in her office at the central command hub, mostly alone. Almost all of the workers, Tali and Garrus included had gone home hours ago. The time difference between Rannoch and Feros was enough that it had just reached morning in Tiber, where Shiala was.

"I'm sure she can. How goes the work on the domes?" Shiala asked. She was sitting in her quite spacious room at the new colony, clothed only in the sleeping robe that Imali had given her two years ago. Liara may have "helped" acquire the robe, but ultimately little Imali picked it out. The light blue robe matched nicely with Shiala's unusual skin pigment. On the wall behind her, Liara could easily see the outline of the gift that Vasha had gotten for the commando. With her grandfathers questionable advice and help, Vasha had managed to purchase and _personally_ deliver a brand new Phaeston assault rifle to the commando, complete with extended barrel and high powered scope. The whole family was on a balcony at the T'Soni estate eating lunch when eight year old Vasha walked up holding this weapon of war.

Liara nearly had a heart attack. Within four seconds of coming through the door, Vasha and the assault rifle were in separate singularities, while Liara was ready to warp the rifle into oblivion. Before she could do it, Aethyta rescued it and her granddaughter, assuring Liara that nothing bad was happening.

Vasha didn't leave her room for three weeks after Liara laid into her. When Aethyta admitted to helping her granddaughter acquire the rifle, Liara gave her own father the thrashing of her life. Aethyta had bruises for months.

After all was said and done, Liara allowed Shiala to keep the rifle, mostly because she trusted the commando to keep it away from her daughters and her father. It left a sour taste in her mouth whenever she saw it.

"Quite well, Shiala. Geen Pak will be finished and opened by months end. So give or take two weeks. Then I'll be heading back to Thessia." Liara said, a smile wide on her lips at the thought of seeing and holding her daughters again.

"That's wonderful, Mistress. I'm expecting to be back by then as well. Miss Lawson assured me that I can take my leave whenever, but you know me." She chuckled. Liara tsked humorously. "Yes I do. Never leave a job undone."

A door opened on the other side of Shiala's room, and the commando turned to exchange words with someone. Liara waited patiently for a few minutes, absently going over a supply report. The geth were bringing in incredible amounts of metals to support the construction of what would eventually be the basis of quarian society. Several thousand tons arrived every hour, via tankers, converted frigates, and even one retired live ship was being used as a transport for supplies.

"Well, duty calls, Mistress. I must start the days security reviews before Miss Lawson wakes. Thank you for calling," She said, turning to look at her door, and finding it closed, she looked back to the screen with a bright smile. "It was good to hear your voice again."

Liara blew a kiss to the green commando. "You too, Shiala. Be safe and come home." She said. The commando repeated the T'Soni family gesture, blowing a kiss back, before turning off the vid comm. Liara smiled as she cleaned up her desk.

She locked up her and Tali's office, heading out into the construction zone that was the dome. She took a deep breath, reveling in the fact that she could step outside and not be bombarded with questions and concerns and more jobs that needed to be handled. Parked a few meters away was a skycar, and inside sat a quarian by the name of Ki'Ha. The man had kindly offered to stay behind until Liara had finished her call and drive her home.

"You really did not have to stay. It's only a short walk home." Liara said sweetly as she closed the hatch of the car. Ki waved her off. "Ridiculous. A half hour is no short walk, Dr. T'Soni. Besides, helping you out will always be worth my time." He said warmly. His fingers flew across the display as the car took off. Liara could not help but wonder at how this quarian could still be positive about life after all he had been through.

Ki'Ha vas Tonbay was the very last living member of his clan. During the brief war with the geth, the Ha clan was, in its entirety, a Heavy Fleet clan. In order to branch out more, the family asked a young Ki, just back from his pilgrimage, to join the patrol fleet. Admiral Shala'Raan, being a good friend of Ki's mother, welcomed him aboard the Tonbay with open arms.

Ki watched from a window as his families ship went down in flames, sheared in half by an energy blast from a geth cruiser. Luckily, being so young he wasn't stationed anywhere important. He had blacked out, the apparent shock from losing his entire family too much for him to handle.

When he was healthy again, he had fallen so deeply into depression that he had tried to commit suicide. No less than nine times. Each time, he survived solely on the luck that someone stumbled upon him. The last time he had tried to end it, two years ago, Liara stumbled onto him with a pistol to his head. He said that this time, he wouldn't allow himself to be saved.

Liara tried desperately to talk him down. Nothing she said seemed to have any effect on him, until she mentioned how he should think of his family. That he should think about what his family would say to see him acting this way. He said that he would join his ancestors, and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

A loud gunshot rang out, but when Liara opened her eyes, it was not Ki's gun that had fired. He had been shot in the chest and was laying slumped against a rock. When she looked around, she saw someone running along the top of a cliff and away. She had wanted to give chase, but Ki needed attention, and that shot was at least five hundred yards out. She would never catch the shooter, so she called Tali and a geth med team and did what she could to help the young man.

When he had recovered, he was a changed man. He said that Liara's genuine concern had convinced him that while his family was gone, he still had friends in life. He had been a priceless helper to both her, Tali and the quarian people ever since.

"So, Doctor, dropping you at your front door?" Ki asked. Liara shook her head. "No. Drop me at Tali's. Her, Garrus and I are supposed to try and contact some old friends. Thank you." She said with a smile. The quarian obliged her and let off at Tali's.

"See you tomorrow, Ki. Thank you for waiting, really." She said, nodding her head. He waved at her. "Always my pleasure, Doctor. See you tomorrow." He said before closing the hatch and driving off. Liara watched the skycar fade in the starlight and turned to walk up the path. Halfway up, she was...somewhat cruelly reminded of a design flaw of the Rannoch prefabs.

The walls of the buildings were made rather hastily, and as such had some poor sound proofing. The sounds of her friends lovemaking assaulted her ears fully. It would be very wrong of her to interrupt, so she quickly turned and retreated, heading back to her own home. Tali and Garrus saw each other on very seldom occasions, sometimes only once or twice a year. Whenever they were together, Liara tried to give them all the space they needed.

The walk home was quick and easy. Once inside, she put all her things down on her desk and changed into a sleeping robe. She set all her lights to dim and sat on her bed, pulling her legs into her chest. Pulling up her omni-tool, she dipped into a seemingly garbage filled folder and poked around for a minute. Out of the layers upon layers of useless code came a single file, containing a picture and an audio file.

The picture was of a stunningly beautiful girl...well, she was basically a girl back then. She would be a woman now, if she were still alive. This was a picture showing a rare, pearl white smile, something that was almost never seen those days. Her bright green eyes shone with determination while her straight brown hair fell messily around her face.

Enlarging the picture, she played the audio file behind it. "I'm not very good at this...but I'll give it my best shot. Before you, I didn't care about life. It meant nothing. It meant nothing because nothing was worth fighting for. Then you and your...your stupidly outrageous intelligence came around and convinced me that there was still things to fight for. I always thought that being smart was pointless; you and your brain were the only ones who ever understood me...anyway. I love you, Liara T'Soni. Don't you ever forget it." The audio file ended and Liara burst into tears, her contained grief spilling out uncontrollably.

_I love you too, Zaia._

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**Aww. So sad :/ Anyway, I did get a PM from someone concerning meters and feet and all that. For the purpose of the story, a meter is 3 feet. That's all. 3 feet even. I'm well aware that a meter is actually 3.23 feet, but that is confusing. I'm a track and field buff, so I do most things in meters. Not all, but most.**

**Anyhoow, I hope you enjoyed it, Reviews are always welcome and the next chapter will be posted soon!**


	3. Assassination

**Hey readers! Not many reviews for last chapter to thank for, but thanks to Zizania for your double whammy, K0H and Theodur for reviewing! This is a long chapter, but we see our first action of the story here! Enjoy!**

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Warmth. Was she in a bed? She wasn't aware that there were any beds on the Angel...not proper ones anyway. The couches in the main hold could be used as such, but rarely was there any time to sleep on missions, nor any need to. Why the fuck was she sleeping?

Zaia felt around, her hands tapping the cold floor. She rolled to her left away from the wall to try and sit up, but ended up falling painfully onto the floor. "Fuck...my head is killing me..." She mumbled, rolling around on the floor. Did she miss something? Was she back in the VIP room in Scythe? Did she drink three whole bottles of Crystal and pass out again? No...that didn't make sense, because Mansa would be in here and probably still naked too.

She eased her eyes open and tried to make sense of where she was. The pounding in her head only escalated as she tried to move. This wasn't a hangover, so she was definitely nowhere near Scythe. She was a veteran when it came to hangovers and handled them way better than this. So what happened to her?

She chose to stop moving and rest for a minute, laying her head flat against the floor. Her memory was fuzzy, but the last thing she remembered was fighting with Sparatus about something. Then talking to the pilot...then someone else calling. Then nothing. A blank slate.

"You alright down there?" Came the pilot's voice. Judging by where it came from, she had been sitting on the opposite couch, watching Zaia flop around like a newborn elcor.

"Yeah. Just fucking peachy. What happened?" Zaia grunted, trying again to get up, but her body just would not listen. She was going to flop back down, but a strong pair of hands pushed her up in a sitting position. She managed to turn herself enough to lean back against the seat she fell off of.

Preparing herself mentally, Shepard forced her eyes open again and looked up at the pilot. She was startled to find that the asari had a large bandage on the side of her head, and a bracelet on her wrist. It looked like a hospital or med bay bracelet.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Zaia grunted, squinting at the bandage. The asari shrugged and moved aside. Buried in the wall of the ship was something silvery...maybe a little black. What the hell was it? Closing and rubbing her eyes, she took a moment and then squinted more to try and identify the object.

"What is that?" She asked finally, unable, or more like unwilling to try and figure it out on her own. The pilot took hold on whatever it was and pulled it out of the wall. "It's the closest I have ever come to dying. It's one of your knives."

Zaia shook her head as another lance of pain shot through it. "My knives? But my knives are in my jacket..." She mumbled, slapping a hand to her chest, feeling for the knives that she knew were there. _One...two...three...three...wait...where th...what the fuck? _Her mind ran and she pulled her jacket open, frantically peering inside. Three hilts peered back at her. She had brought five knives with her. There were three in the jacket. Five to three...

"Where the fuck is the other knife?" She yelled, suddenly forgetting her pain and whipping her head to search the cabin. If there was one in the hull, then one was still missing, and it was the worse possible blade that could be missing. She felt hands on her shoulders, pushing her back down to the floor. "Relax. It's on the counter. Coolest knife I have ever seen, I'll tell you that." The asari said. Shepard shoved past her and to the kitchen, sighing in relief when she saw the blade on the counter.

"What is it?" The pilot asked, coming over to stand next to the spectre. Zaia picked it up tenderly. "This is called a Scorpion Blade. Among assassins, these are the pinnacle of killing weapons." She said, holding it up in the light. The asari stared at it in awe as a curious look seeped onto her face. "Um...what is a scorpion?" She asked. Normally, Zaia would have jumped down her throat with the stupid questions, but for whatever reason, she didn't. "A scorpion is a venomous arthropod on Earth. Throughout history, they were often associated with black ops, secrecy and assassination." She replied.

Deftly, she flipped the knife in her hands, holding up the hilt end. The pommel was round and smooth, all culminating in what looked like a curved needle. "This is what defines the scorpion. Here, look at this." Shepard said, pulling up her omni and loading a picture of a scorpion. The asari closely inspected the arachnid, spending particular time on the unique tail shape and stinger at the end. The stinger on the end of the dagger was an exact copy. "So...you stab someone with this little point? How is that supposed to kill?" She asked, pointing to the pommel of the blade.

"The flesh wound itself wouldn't do more than irritate someone, but the venom inside the stinger would do a lot more than irritate. You can put whatever inside," Shepard commented dryly. "Venom or poison of some kind is usually the most appropriate." She finished, sliding the knife back into her jacket. She held out her hand pointedly, and the pilot placed the other knife, a normal, serrated blade in her palm. After replacing that one, Shepard glanced at the bandage again. "So...how exactly did my knife get into the wall after almost shearing off your head?" She asked. The pilot's eyes widened in surprise as she took a seat on the couch once more.

"You really don't remember?" She wondered incredulously. Zaia shook her head and opened the fridge, looking for something to drink. She had just realized that her mouth was incredibly dry. Inside, she kept three bottles of Crystal for just such an occasion. Fishing in a cabinet, she pulled out a shot glass and poured herself a shot. The alcohol would also help the korgan war band marching around in her head.

"Well...you were talking to Councilor Tevos, and she said something about you being a pet and hung up. You screamed about doing dirty chores and insults, then flung this knife straight ahead of you, where I happened to be sitting." She said, tenderly touching the bandage.

Shepard realized in horror what had happened. She put down the bottle, her hand shaking. "Listen...I'm pretty sure I know what I did now...just let me ask...did I mention a name throughout all that?" She was afraid of the answer. It had been a good three years since her last attack, and the only trigger was one person.

"Not that I heard." Was all the pilot said. Shepard sat down and held her head in her hands. An attack was only bad news for everyone around her.

"I'm guessing you expect an explanation, don't you?" Zaia asked sheepishly. All through her life she has run away from it. The Council just made it worse, and she must deal with it. This was the one weakness of Zaia Shepard.

"I'll accept anything you give me. I was given only a short dossier when I signed on, and told that working with you would be dangerous," She started before cocking an eyebrow. "Though, to be honest, I thought that was just about people shooting at us." She said skeptically.

Zaia sighed. "Yeah, I know. Alright, I'll make a really long story shorter. You ever heard of Woede Syndrome?" The pilot dropped the glass she was holding, the sound of it shattering hurting Zaia's still tender eardrums.

"You have Woede Syndrome!?" She screamed, once again hurting Zaia's ears. The look of pure terror on her face was enough to make even the hardened spectre-assassin cringe. "Put a fucking sock in it, Draga! Holy shit..." Shepard complained, holding her head. The pilot's face went from frightened to surprised.

"Wait...you know my name?" She asked.

"What? Of course I know your damn name!" Shepard grunted. Did this foolish asari think that she would not know the name of her own pilot. God some people tend to be stupid.

"I was told that you never learn your pilots names. That you are impossible to speak to, you hate everyone except yourself and that you are violent to a letter. I was even graced with video evidence to prove it." Shepard looked up at her in surprise.

"Excuse me? Video evidence of what?" She asked suspiciously. How would the Council have video evidence of her? For that matter, how was she on video period? Draga nodded slowly. "When the Council, namely Councilor Huuru, offered me the job, he gave me a few recordings of how you acted among some of your other pilots." Councilor Huuru was the newly elected salarian councilor. He was a backwards salarian, being quiet, meticulous and careful where most of his race went about life at a million miles per hour. He was from a small clan, making it ever more interesting that he was the one to get elected to the Council and not one of the more powerful females.

Shepard's eyes narrowed as she silently plotted the individual and...painful deaths of each councilor. In detail. "Which pilots?" She asked through gritted teeth. Draga pulled up a file on her omni. "Eriphus Topium, Jared Moru, Pirrsa Hentin and Iferi'Mal nar Xaquay." She said, reading the names from the screen. Shepard eyes didn't relax. "Who the fuck are they?" She hissed.

The asari's face grew curious. "What? You don't know?"

"You already know. I never learn my pilots names. Takes too long and they never last."

"Oh," Draga started, unwilling to point out that Shepard clearly did learn at least on of her pilots names. "...well, they are four of your former pilots. A turian, human, salarian and quarian. In that order. For each one of them, you hardly spoke, apart from orders. At no point did you ever ask a question, or answer one. You even threatened to kill the quarian. You _did_ kill the human."

Sounds like me." Zaia replied, her voice edged with anger. She was still thinking about how the Council had clearly bugged her ship.

Draga shook her head. "Doesn't sound like you. Not from where I'm sitting right now," She said, her eyes boring into Shepard's. "You were speaking to me by the end of the first mission. Never once have you drawn a weapon, or insulted me. You told the quarian that you would rip holes in his suit because he called you Shepard.. You told me I could call you Zaia by the second mission!"

"Whats your point, Draga?" Zaia grumbled as she realized she was now caught in a trap. This kind of touchy feely crap was really not Shepard's style. She laid down on the couch, closing her aching eyes and preparing for the inevitable.

"My point is, Shepard, that you have treated me differently than all the other pilots you've had. The Woede Syndrome aside for now, I want the answer to that question." She finished, her eyes calm and patient. Shepard cast a wary glance at the asari, gauging the woman's reaction to a prolonged stare from the assassin. Draga stood her ground well and Shepard caved almost immediately.

"Alright, fine! If I tell you a secret, promise me you'll drop this for right now?" She had already revealed so much to this woman. More than she had revealed to anyone in the last decade. Not even Mansa knew this much.

"I'm listening." Draga replied calmly. Zaia muttered incoherent things to herself. This woman knew exactly how to push her buttons, how to get under her skin. She took a deep breath. "Fuck me...alright, I...I have a soft spot for asari. Can we end this conversation now, please? I do actually have work to do." She said firmly. The asari smiled at her and nodded.

"I know. Just so you're aware, we've been on Tiber for a whole day already. I gave you a sedative when you freaked out. You being out cold gave me time to get into the colony." Draga said. Zaia flashed her eyes to the bracelet again. "Let me guess: you went to the medical station to get your head looked at?" The pilot nodded. "Well...sorry about that. Anyway, how did you sell that wound to the medical personnel?"

Draga chuckled. "Oh, it was easy. Told them that we experienced some intense turbulence coming out of mass jump. Believed me on the spot." Zaia considered her words and admitted to herself that it was a genius story. She knew that Draga was an intelligent woman, so it made no surprise.

"I got a present for you too, Shepard," Draga said before tossing a data pad to the spectre. Zaia caught it and perused through it. "What is this?" She asked. Her brain wasn't working at normal capacity.

"A full days worth of observations from inside the colony. I had a good bit of spare time, even met this green skinned asari. An amazing creature really. Sexy as the goddess as well...goes by Commander T'Soni. Do you think she's related to Liara T'Soni? How amazing it would be to meet her..."

_You have no idea. _Shepard thought, flinching at the thought of the scientist while she read the data. It wasn't exactly well put together according to her standards, but there was a lot of raw data that could be refined into something better. Under any circumstance though, Draga had saved her a lot of time. "...thanks..." Shepard mumbled. It was a word she didn't use very often.

"This green skinned asari...Commander T'Soni. What was she doing when you met her? If she's with House T'Soni, she must be important." Zaia said, her eyes catching notes of camera's that Draga had remembered to note. Smart girl. The news got even better when she saw how few camera's were fully operational at this point.

"She was mingling with the people. I met her standing at the main elevator. They have a security station right in front of it, and she is apparently posted there."

_Fuck._ Shepard thought ruefully. That made for a huge problem. Well, not really. If she activated tactical cloak at the right time, she could successfully avoid being seen by the commando. Of course, she wasn't aware if this aura memory gene would nullify tactical cloak. She kicked herself for not asking Tevos about it.

"She was particularly concerned with one Oriana Lawson, and some guy named Loxx. Whenever she spoke to another guard, it was about one of those two. What do you think?"

Shepard glanced around the compartment. "You said that the Council has this ship bugged..."

"Don't worry. I disabled the bugs. Were alone in here." Shepard nodded, looking at her above the pad. "Oriana Lawson is the colonies new elected leader and Loxx is her personal aide. Loxx is the target. A batarian who seems to be feeding inside info about the colony to the Blue Suns, who are planning a large raid. Council wants him gone. Shi...the green skinned asari is their head of security."

Draga's eyes bugged out. "Are you seriously trusting me with this information?" She asked, her voice full of surprise and excitement. Zaia cocked an eyebrow at her pilot. "Why the hell not? You already assisted me. In my book, you helping me means you get all the info I do. It would be wrong to keep you in the dark," Zaia said, still scanning the data. "Just don't let it go to your head, and by that I mean don't try to do something you aren't sure about. A mistake in this business leaves you dead." She finished. Finishing her scan of the data, she put down the pad, fully intent on heading out to the colony to do some recon of her own. She took three steps and stumbled, her legs giving out on her completely.

"I don't think you will be able to walk properly for another couple hours, Shepard. Better get some rest. A drugged sleep isn't exactly a restful one." Draga commented as she lay down on her own couch, closing her eyes with a smile.

_Damn asari has me all figured out_. Zaia thought, picking herself up off the floor. _Alright...sleep now, recon later. Maybe more Crystal to help..._

XXX

Matriarch Aethyta sat in the waiting room, only slightly annoyed at her situation. She'd been cheeks deep in a young asari maiden when a call came in from her granddaughters school. It always sucked when sex got interrupted mostly because Aethyta refused to have sex when the girls were around. Not yet at least. When they got older.

The call was directly from the Headmaster, and the matron had requested that Aethyta report to the school to pick up her granddaughter. The woman hadn't even mentioned what happened. To that point, she hadn't even mentioned which granddaughter was in question!

"Matriarch Aethyta?" Asked another young asari from behind a counter. The Matriarch stood and walked over. "Yeah, that's me. Can I go in now?"

"Yes. Headmaster T'Nirra will see you now." Aethyta nodded respectfully at the girl before heading over to a large office door. Opening it, she was surprised to find not only both her granddaughters, but also another asari child there. That particular one was beaten like a sack of grain.

"What do we have here?" She asked no one in particular. She took a seat in a chair between Imali and Vasha. She looked down at Vasha first, and finding no answers, looked at Imali. Her face rose in surprise as she saw Imali's tear stained face. "Matriarch Aethyta. I'm glad you could come." Said Nivia T'Nirra, a matron of six hundred years. She was very beautiful, her face bearing no markings and her bosom being larger than Nezzy's was. She wore a black and gold robe, the colors of the school that Vasha and Imali attended, complete with a badge showing her position as Headmaster.

"Yeah, thanks. What happened?" Aethyta asked, throwing her arms around each of her granddaughters and pulling them into her side. Neither girl resisted the movement, knowing that it was Aethyta's favorite way of sitting with them.

"Straight to the point...well, it would appear that Miss Essani here thought it would be fun to destroy a picture that Imali had been drawing in the cafeteria during lunch hour." The Headmaster said, gesturing to the other girl in the room. Aethyta cast an extremely annoyed glance at the girl, who instantly tried to evaporate. School children can be very cruel.

"After that happened, Vasha took it personally, and a fight ensued. I believe you can see who came out the victor." The Headmaster said with a cringe. Glancing at both girls involved in the fight, Aethyta knew exactly what happened. Vasha had a small cut above her eye, but this Essani girl looked like a krogan had just gotten a hold of her. An astonishing amount of bruises on the girls face, along with several cuts. Aethyta reached over and picked up Vasha's right hand, checking the girls knuckles. As she suspected, they were but raw meat, skinned from the punching.

"So you're going to punish them for settling things properly?" Aethyta asked. She wasn't a fan of all the rules nowadays. When she was a girl, a fist to the jaw was just as convincing as a few days of detention. She had gotten in far more than her share of scuffles before she was twenty five. Broke her arm twice.

"Well...yes. We can't have such behavior, especially from the youth of our society. I have levied Vasha's suspension at nine days," The headmaster said before nodding at the other girl. "Miss Essani has received the same punishment." She finished. Aethyta understood the need for a suspension, even though she wholly disagreed with it. Time off from school does exactly nothing in terms of punishment. Give em more homework or something, but a small vacation?

"Why is Imali here then, and not in class?" Aethyta asked. From what she'd been told, Imali wasn't involved in the fight, so it made no sense that she was still there. "When I was considering Vasha's suspension, Imali said that if her sister were suspended, she should be as well."

_Twins to the end_. Aethyta thought with an inward smile. Outwardly, she kept a perpetual frown on her face. "Alright, fine. I'll take them home." She said scathingly, getting up and hauling her two granddaughters with her. As she walked out of the lobby, another woman walked in, presumably the mother or guardian of that Essani girl. Her granddaughters were silent as they gathered their things and left the school. The skycar ride was equally silent, a bit of an eerie experience, as the girls were never this quiet.

Arriving home, Aethyta sent both girls to their rooms for a little reflection time before explaining themselves to their mother, whom she would be calling presently. No doubt Liara would be devastated to hear about the loss of class time. Being such a nerd did that to a person. Though Aethyta silently felt for Vasha, as she was actually the only one who did any wrong.

She pulled up the vid comm in the living room and dialed Liara, hoping to catch her either at home or at her office. It would be mid evening on Rannoch at this point, the Matriarch being slightly thankful that the time difference didn't put them in the middle of the night. A few rings later and the image of her daughter popped up on screen.

"Hello, father." Liara said, blowing a kiss. Aethyta repeated the gesture quickly.

"Are you alone?" She asked. Liara pointed off screen. "Well, Tali is here, but that's all." Aethyta nodded and thought for a moment. The quarian was just as much a part of this family as anyone. She'd known the girls since they were two. Auntie Tali brought them sweets often enough, and sent them when she couldn't come.

"Your daughters got into a bit of trouble, Little Wing." Aethyta said, watching Liara's face carefully to guess how the conversation would go. To her surprise, her daughter did not go completely ballistic as a first step. Despite that, concern was clear.

"Oh dear. What happened?" She asked with a deep sigh. Aethyta noticed Tali come to stand behind Liara, evidently hearing about the kids. While Aethyta wasn't always so accepting of other races, the quarian woman had grown on the Matriarch. "Hello, Tali." She said.

"Matriarch Aethyta. Nice to see you again." The engineer replied happily. Aethyta turned her attention back to her daughter. "Some girl at the school destroyed a picture that Imali was drawing at lunch. Vasha took offense and whipped her ass. Beat her up pretty good from what I saw. Got suspended for nine days. They're both in their rooms now." Aethyta said with a sour look on her face.

Liara's face dropped into the expected disappointment. "Nine days? That long...wait, why is Imali there too? Did she fight as well?"

Aethyta couldn't help but grin at this part of the story. "Nope. Told T'Nirra that if she suspended Vasha, she would have to suspend her too."

Liara slapped her palm to her face. "Oh, my daughters...were they upset at getting suspended?"

Aethyta shook her head. "Nah. Imali was still a little teary from her picture getting obliterated, but Vasha just looked pissed off. Though, I did hear them worrying about how mad you would be as they marched off."

"Well, I can't say I'm at all pleased. Can I talk to them?" Liara asked, her voice getting sharper as she got more upset by the minute. Aethyta called the girls down and stood them in front of their mother, who at this point looked a full hundred percent krogan.

"Explain yourselves." She said scathingly. Aethyta had to admit that Liara made one scary sight when she was mad. The girls just stood there, shuffling their feet nervously. "Speak up." Aethyta grunted.

"That girl Aerin broke Ima's drawing, and I got mad..." Vasha started, but fell short when she met her mothers eyes again. Imali must have sensed this because she picked up the story. "Vasha told Aerin to say she was sorry. Aerin said no and just laughed at us. So...Vasha punched her." The girls looked at their mother like she was about to jump forth from the screen and smack them both to the goddess' embrace. Aethyta had to admit that her daughter looked rather scary, staring down her daughters with the eye of fury.

"Mom, we can expla-"

"Enough. To your rooms, both of you." Liara commanded, her voice clearly signaling no questions. Both girls marched out of the living room in unison, snaking their hands together once out of their mothers sight. The conversation with Liara lasted only a few more moments, as Liara had something come up that needed her attention. She did say that she would be making an effort to get back to Thessia within the next two days.

Hanging up, Aethyta took a deep sigh. Ultimately, her daughters judgment was final when it came to her own daughters, but she couldn't help but feel that Liara was being harsh. Heading to the kitchen, she fished around and grabbed two Lexica juices. Lexica was an extremely sweet fruit only found on Thessia, mostly on the southern hemisphere of the planet.

She knew that her granddaughters had grown to love the sweet fruit. Chances are that the two girls were together in the same room, probably Imali's. Their mother may have told them rooms, but to those two, that meant one or the other.

Ascending the wide stairs and walking down the hall, her suspicions were confirmed. The door to Vasha's room was open and after a quick glance inside, Aethyta found nobody there. Heading further down the hall, she heard voices from Imali's room.

She knocked on the door, and the voices fell silent. No doubt the girls thought that she was making sure they were following through on their punishment. Aethyta knocked again and heard shuffling. A red faced Imali opened the door, and Vasha started to walk out, her face to the ground.

"Sorry, grandpa...I'll go to my own room..." She mumbled. Aethyta placed a palm on the girls crests, softly but firmly pushing them back into the room. "Back in there, fuzzball. You too Imali. Here," She said, handing them the juices. "We are going to have a little chat." The matriarch finished, walking past her granddaughters and taking a seat on the bed. The girls looked in surprise at the drinks in their hands and the warm smile on their grandfathers face.

"Um...grandpa, I know you're probably mad...but seriously..." Vasha started, but a raised hand from Aethyta silenced her.

"Nice job." The matriarch said simply. She burst out laughing at the faces the twins gave her. Wide mouthed expressions of awe and confusion. Aethyta took a vested interest in the hem of her robe as the two girls made sense of what was being presented to them.

"Wha...what do you mean, nice job, grandpa?" Imali asked. Vasha simply nodded in agreement with her sister. Aethyta grinned at the two of them. With a wave, she drew the two sisters to her. "Yes. Nice job, girls." She said, pulling both girls into a hug with her.

"Uh...what's going on, grandpa?" Vasha asked, her voice ringing with curiosity.

"Again, nice job. To the both of you," The matriarch said, pulling Imali onto her lap while Vasha elected to stand. "While I can't encourage senseless violence, I can encourage standing up for your family. Vasha, that Essani girl picked on your sister, so you beat her up. Your mother is right; you cannot just go and get yourself suspended from school, but I still think you did the right thing."

Vasha took a drink from her juice and shrugged. "It doesn't feel like I did anything right. I mean, the school is mad at us, you were mad at us, and worst of all...mom is mad at us." She mumbled.

"Nonsense. I'll let you in on a secret: school teaches you a lot, but it can't teach you to defend your family. That is something you did without thinking, Vasha. Do you know what that is?" The girl shook her head sheepishly. "That is what love is Vasha. Doing something without thinking of the consequences."

The girl looked like she was itching to say something, so Aethyta motioned for her to say it. "Well, grandpa...isn't it weird for me to..._love_ Imali?" A huge grin spread over Aethyta face at the innocently gross concept. The two girls were far too young to understand the idea of love in a platonic sense.

"Well duh, fuzzball. Don't want you and your sister shacking up now, do we?"

"Ew grandpa!" Imali giggled in Aethyta's lap. The matriarch tickled the girl, making her giggle explode into all out laughter.

"I get that...but if you're so cool with this, why is mom so mad?" Vasha asked, her eyes searching the ground for something useful to say. Aethyta reached up and tilted the girls' chin back up to look at her. "You mom isn't really mad, Vasha. Worried is more like it. She just doesn't know how to show it over vid comm." Vasha smiled at the chance that their mother wasn't angry at all. Both twins cherished their mothers praise and good graces possibly more than their own safety. A dangerous concept, if applied in the wrong areas of life.

"So you two relax. I think you did the right thing, and your mom does too. We both just hope that the next time you do it, don't get caught. Okay?" Aethyta said, hugging both her granddaughters. The girls returned the hug warmly.

"Thanks, grandpa." They said in unison. Aethyta let them both go and made a contemplative face. "You know what? I think I'm going to treat you two to a surprise. Under the radar."

"Under the radar? What does that mean grandpa?" Imali asked, giving her grandpa a curious stare. Aethyta laughed. "It means don't tell your mother that I took you girls out while you're supposed to be being punished!" She laughed.

XXX

The colony of Tiber was ridiculously packed. Zaia had not expected even half of the amount of people that there actually were once she got in. The main elevators were full to capacity every trip, and it was taking a good few hours to handle the population.

It had been an hour since she'd set out to explore the colony. Taking an auxiliary lift was most sensible,seeing as it would avoid the central security station where Shiala was apparently posted. She stood and waited in line until finally getting on after twenty minutes. Unfortunately, she was pressed very uncomfortably against the side of the elevator and about fifty other people.

Finally, she got off the elevator into the newly constructed shopping and entertainment floor of the colony. It took the form of a huge hallway with shops lining both sides, small stalls and pagoda's lining the middle. It looked like a super mall from Earth. Most of the stores were well known galactic retailers, such as Sirta and Elkoss, but many were interesting new places that had just begun springing up all over the place. A clothing retailer called Thessian Threads had a pretty large storefront, and from what she could see was actually pretty cheap.

A cosmetics store called Morlan Appearances ran top of the line salon services for all races, that alone making it a large company. For the most part, the products were for humans, but she assumed that it was because Tiber would be a human majority colony. She found herself to be a bit interested in how doing makeup for a hanar would work, but that would have to wait until she wasn't the Council's personal killer anymore.

She suddenly thought that she might have actually been enjoying herself a little bit. With Draga having saved her hours upon hours of work, she just had to find the best spot to make the kill. Walking around shops like this was almost...normal.

A large crowd making a fuss at a center pagoda caught her attention. While there were a few places that were crowded, such as Thessian Threads, none of the other center pagodas had this much publicity. Shoving a few teenagers out of the way, Zaia got to the front and saw what the fuss was.

She swore violently in her head. The Shepards Armory had an impressive display of top of the line weapons and gear laid out in special glass cases, probably lined with safety lasers and other defense measures.

_Who the hell owns this place_? She wondered, looking at the selection. Sniper rifles, assault rifles and pistols, all modded to her exact specifications. Phalanx, Predator and N7 Eagle pistols, all modded with extended barrels and melee stunners. The expensive turian models too, not the Kassa Fabrication garbage.

Phaeston assault rifles, modded with extended barrels and precision scopes. That's weird...nobody uses precision scopes, usually. At least, mainstream military forces don't use them. Only some long range turian strike teams use them as standard issue.

Javelin and Widow sniper rifles with high caliber barrels and magazine upgrades, perfectly suited for her use. These were all modded weapons that she would jump at the chance to use. Her personal Phaeston had a heat scope with the extended barrel, but the pistols were exactly to her specifications, as were the sniper rifles.

As she was scanning, the board above her head lit up as an ad started to play. She paid it no mind, until a very familiar voice began to speak. "Welcome to The Shepards Armory! I'm Conrad Verner, creator and owner of this store, inspired by my late lover, who gave her life to protect the galaxy!" Shepard had to try mightily to keep her jaw from falling to the floor.

"Before she died, ZaZa asked me to make sure that the galaxy could always protect itself, and what better way to do it than with her own weapons! Each weapon in my stock was personally used by the Shepard at one point or another and has been modified to her personal specifications. Be brave like the Galactic Hero and buy today!" As he disappeared from the screen, a horrifically altered photo replaced him of her, the old her with brown hair and green eyes, arm in arm and _kissing_ with him.

_That ratty little motherfucker..._ Zaia thought violently. She didn't really care about the weapons being modded to her liking. That was probably for the best, seeing as eighty percent of people using guns didn't know the first thing about modding. She cared about the lies. Conrad Verner was a pain in the damn ass all throughout her wars against the Reapers. Each time, she was able to put him in his place and...remind him that he is in no way capable of doing even a fraction of what she does.

Now though, she wasn't around to take him down forty notches. That lie about he being his lover probably helped his sales exponentially. If she ever got the chance, she would pay Conrad a visit. Maybe for the last time.

She stomped away from the pagoda, intent on getting as far away from that waste of time as she could. She wanted, so badly, to tell the people that Verner was just a hoax, a pathetic wannabe. She couldn't though, because she was supposed to be dead. Fucking technicalities.

She walked for another ten minutes, mentally noting all the instances of security stations, camera's and auto turrets. She frowned when she stumbled upon the first camera. It panned a full 180 degrees away from the wall. Perfect coverage. Not that Zaia had planned to make the kill in here, but this was cementing her doubt. As she was looking around, a commotion started further down, at a high end clothing store, to which Zaia didn't know the name.

She took a step up onto a bench and looked at what was going on. Out of the store came a security escort, led by none other than Shiala. Luckily enough, the green skinned commando was too busy directing her people than looking around. After the team was all set, Shiala motioned inside and out came Chancellor Oriana Lawson and two women that Shepard had really not intended on seeing.

Miranda looked pretty much the same as she had that day of the Battle for Earth. The only major difference was that she was wearing an olive dress, fringed in teal and yellow lace. Jack however was a surprise. She had traded her revealing getup in exchange for a tight leather suit that covered more skin. Both of the women were as sexy as they were on the Normandy, but that wasn't the point.

But no matter how good the eye candy was, Miranda being there made things worse for Zaia. Much worse. There was little in the galaxy as dangerous as Miranda's intuition and intellect. If she even sniffed that there was something foul going on, she would keep sniffing until she was at Shepard's door on the Citadel.

Apart from that, Jack also tripled the danger of this mission. Shiala being there was a hurdle, but a surmountable one. Now, with three extremely talented biotics and Miranda's lethality in _any_ situation, the chances that Zaia forces collateral damage is high. Collateral damage was not something she was cool with.

Turning away from the procession, she began a brisk walk back to the elevators. A quick tap to her ear activated the comm. "You awake?" She said.

"Yes." Came Draga's short answer.

"You any good at hacking?" Shepard asked. She seemed to remember Draga speaking about hacking training at some point, but to what extent she couldn't remember. "Almost as good as a quarian. What do you need?"

Shepard quickly jumped out of the way of an elcor that had found it necessary to swing its large body around too fast. "I need you to find out which floor Loxx lives on, then I'll need a way to get there undetected."

"Sounds urgent. What happened to a relaxed, easy job?" Draga asked, a hint of a laugh in her voice. Zaia stepped inside an elevator that had just arrived. "Something, or rather someones, have made an unexpected appearance. I need to make this kill tonight."

* * *

Shiala sighed as she lowered herself into the bathtub, the hot, bubbling water soothing her skin and muscles. While she hadn't had any serious physical stuff to do, being the security chief of a new colony leader was a taxing job. She literally had to set up a convoy for everything. Oriana had an armed convoy of no less than four guards even if she was just going to a vending machine.

Miss Lawson had given her the night off, so the commando was putting it to good use. It had been awhile since she had any time to herself, so she decided to use this night to relax. She had sent messages to both Liara and Aethyta that she had free time and maybe a group call was in order, but had got no reply's just yet.

Taking up a soft sponge, she lathered on a luxurious, foamy body wash, sent to her by Mistress Liara. As soon as the head of House T'Soni had discovered Liara's new post, she sent the gift immediately. It was an expensive brad, using eezo filtered water from natural hot springs on Thessia. It was supposed to have an instantly calming and rejuvenating effect on the body...and it was working.

Man was it working. She felt like every knot, every little ounce of stress and strain was melting off, leaving only warm comfort in its place. She reached for the sponge again, intent on putting on another layer when her lights flickered and shut off. Instantly, she reached down to her waist, but mentally slapped herself. She was in the damn bath. Of course she wouldn't bring any weapons in here.

Placing her hands on the edges of the tub, she began to slowly lift herself out, only to be stopped by a hand pushing her back down. Something round and cold was pressed against the back of her neck, what she assumed was a pistol.

"Commander T'Soni." Said a harsh, gravelly voice. Shiala swallowed, both nervously and in anticipation. She wasn't sure how this guy got into her apartment and bathroom without her noticing. However, this gave her the chance to beat something up for the first time in awhile. She just needed her chance.

"Are you here to kill me?" She replied firmly. If she knew the rogue's intentions, it would expedite her own. If he was there to kill her, then she might as well fight back now.

"No," He said. The pistol didn't move from the back of her neck. "To warn you."

"About what?" Shiala asked, her tense muscles now confused. She was already prepared to unleash biotics, but now she wasn't sure.

"Panic. Your new Chancellor has an aide. A batarian."

"Loxx." She breathed. She had initially thought that having a batarian as an aide would be a horrible decision, but after several meetings and meals with the man, she had given him a clean slate. He was polite, intelligent and very professional. Even so, she thought he acted suspicious at times.

"Loxx. He is a merc with the Blue Suns and has been feeding his people secrets. They intend to raid the colony. Do you know why?" Shiala thought for a moment. If Loxx was selling secrets to the Blue Suns, then there was only one reason they would elect to raid a human colony.

"The Council Grant. A billion credits, all in one place at one time..." The man behind her chuckled. A deep, grating, awful sound. "Yes. Loxx sold that secret in exchange for half of the grant. I'm going to kill him."

Shiala realized that this person was not there for her. Despite giving the batarian a chance, she had always suspected Loxx of being a bit...sneaky. He was jumpy at times and seemed secretive at others. "Shouldn't you let me go take care of this problem?" She asked. She waited patiently for an answer, her arms still poised to strike at any moment. She sat there in the water for five whole minutes before leaping up and spinning around. When nothing happened, she ran over and flicked a light, the bathroom being illuminated.

The invader was long gone. He hadn't made a sound leaving. Shiala flicked a bottle of oil at the ground, checking for possible cloaking tech, but found none. Her eyes did catch something glinting at her, and upon closer inspection, found what it was.

A small wine glass sat next to her collection of oils and soaps. It had been the thing that had been pressed against her neck, not a pistol. She had been held hostage, naked in a bath tub, by an unknown invader wielding a wine glass. She couldn't help but give it a sour chuckle.

She gave it not more than a moments humor before running back into her room, not bothering to dry off. Grabbing her gear, she quickly donned it and sent out messages to other guards nearby. Less than a minute later, her and three others stood, weapons drawn outside Loxx' apartment. She banged on the door.

"Loxx! Open up!" She barked. Nothing happened. No sounds emerged from the room. Only silence. She banged again. "Second warning Loxx! Open up or I will hack the door!" Still nothing. Giving a signal to one of her lieutenants, the hacking began.

A minute later, the door slid open, Shiala and her human counterparts entering the dark apartment slowly. Flashlights flicked on, and they searched for any sign of the batarian. Shiala assigned rooms to each guard and proceeded to the bedroom.

The bed looked undisturbed, no sign of a struggle whatsoever. Actually looked like it hadn't been slept in for days. As she searched, the lights flicked on through the apartment. "Commander, something you need to see. Conference room." Said one of the others through the comm. Shiala left the bedroom and ran to the room in question.

The room was lavishly decorated and furnished, an ornate desk gracing one side. In the chair on the other side of the desk was Loxx. His throat had been slit, the cut looking surgically precise. "Stand down. Call med teams and crime teams over here. Now." She commanded. Her men ran off and began on their tasks.

She circled around the desk, looking for any blood spatter or signs of a struggle. None were forthcoming, and apart from a data pad on the desk, nothing was out of order. Shiala turned to leave when something caught her eye. The computer screen was on, but that wasn't what was surprising.

The information on the screen was a treasure trove. It looked like a directory of Blue Suns agents and operations, including the plan to steal the Council Grant.

All the evidence implicating Loxx in the plot was here, in plain sight. This plan had been in motion from the first minute that Oriana had been appointed. Months of planning, all at her fingertips. She felt like the Shadow Broker.

Her eyes drifted to the data pad on the desk. It was the only thing that looked like it didn't belong. Gingerly, she reached over and picked it up. Turning it on, she found a file already open on it.

_You're Welcome._

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews always welcome! Please if you have any questions let me know and I will answer them!**


	4. Reunion

**Welcome Chapter 4!**

**A few thanks to go out: GUEST, HanyouKagome962, Robert (Guest), Theodur and Wallenkies. Thanks for reviewing last chapter!**

**Once again, if you have any questions, please let me know!**

* * *

"Grandpa, are we gonna get caught doing this?" Imali asked excitedly, watching out the side of the skycar. Seeing as Shiala was away on her security detail, Aethyta drove the skycar herself, something that she usually never did. She wasn't the typical Thessian Matriarch, who had been carted around for the past four centuries.. She actually remembered some applicable skills.

They had been on the fly for an hour already, heading out to a mountain top restaurant that Vasha had talked about one day. Apparently, one of her teachers got bonded there and was gushing about it in class. Some people are so damn stupid...gushing about a bonding ceremony to ten year olds. It really was an amazing place, but still. Ten year olds.

"Caught? Nah, fuzzball. We are going so far out of the way that nobody will catch us." Aethyta chuckled. She glanced over to the passenger side where Vasha slept soundly. It was the main difference between the two girls. Imali was a little ball of energy most hours of the day while Vasha was a little more reserved and serious. They balanced each other out perfectly.

The mountain they were going to really wasn't that far from Armali, but it was far enough to be called a getaway. Keeping these two cooped up at the estate was a recipe for bad shit. Plus, it's not like this was her plan anyway.

Another hour flew by and they were at the mountain. The Cloud Keep was a famous resort on Thessia, and the restaurant there was supposed to be one of the best in the entire system. It wasn't frequented by many people. Unfortunately, famous resort and restaurant equals famous prices.

Aethyta parked the car and ferried her granddaughters inside. The cold air of the skycar port could throw them into a nasty illness. Once inside herself, Aethyta took a moment to absorb the absolutely stunning view provided. Most of the lobby walls were glass panes, giving a view that was just amazing. From this mountain, one could overlook the Armalian Valley on one side and the Irrthian Forest on the other.

"Do you think we'll ever leave Thessia, Ima?" Vasha asked, looking out over the giant forest. She had seen vids and read stories about the wonderful things that she couldn't even imagine living in the forest, and that was on the same planet as she. She wanted to see the galaxy! The stars! She wanted to adventure to the farthest moons, discover a new race, save the galaxy! That all seemed so far away here on Thessia.

"Why would you want to leave? We have everything we want here." Imali answered, her own eyes wide with wonder. Vasha shrugged. "I don't know...I feel like there's something...missing in our lives. Don't you?" Imali giggled at her sister.

"Of course there is something missing. Daddy isn't here." Imali said somberly.

"Yeah, we never met her, but she was still our father." Imali continued. "Almost all the other girls we know right now have daddies at home. We don't." She finished, hugging her sister. Vasha returned the hug, her eyes still scanning over the forest.

"It's not the daddy thing, Ima. Something els-" She was interrupted when he sister clapped her lightly on the head. Vasha eyed her sister with slight annoyance. "What was that for?" She inquired.

Imali smiled her innocent smile. "For not listening, silly. Do you ever notice how we always seem one step ahead of children in school, or on the playground?" Vasha thought for a moment and nodded. "It's because we have had a more practical life so far. It's not fair, but we were forced to be serious a lot sooner."

"I guess you're right, Ima..." Vasha faded off absently. She loved her family, but what Ima said was right. Not having dad around really had affected the way they grew up. The two sisters didn't really take part in things with other kids. While other kids squabbled about dresses and toys, she and Imali were preoccupied with things like art. And, to use a term she'd overheard her grandpa using, beating the blue out of people.

At a word from Aethyta, the two sisters followed her towards the restaurant stairs. As they got to the top step, Imali slipped and fell forward, only to be caught by a set of talons. "Whoa there, little one. Don't want to mess up that cute face." Said a gruff voice as the turian pushed Imali back to her feet. Vasha jumped between her sister and the stranger. "Hey! Keep your dirty talons off my sis..." She began before stopping as she saw the smirking face of the turian.

"Uncle Garrus!?" She cried out. He laughed loudly as the girl crashed into his legs, her small arms wrapping around his knees. Imali followed her sister soon after, recovering from her shock instantly.

"Hello, girls!" He said happily, placing his talons softly on their crests.

"Uncle Garrus, what are you doing here?" Imali asked, still wrapped around his leg. The turian stood tall and crossed his arms on his chest, putting on his best serious face. "I seem to have heard that some little blue angels are causing trouble." He said with a menacing voice. Imali and her sister backed up and bowed their heads in shame. Vasha opened her mouth to explain when another hand settled on her shoulder. Her and Imali looked behind them and squealed again. "Auntie Tali!" They cheered, whirling around and throwing hugs around the waist of the shorter quarian. "How are you, little ones!" She exclaimed, kneeling down and hugging the girls.

"Well, we caused some trouble, and mom is mad, but everything is better now because you and Uncle Garrus are here!" Imali cheered. Vasha, despite being still upset about school and being suspended, couldn't bear to take the smile from her face.

Tali stood up and crossed her arms. "You two are giving your mother quite the headache, you know." She said, her voice stern. The two girls, their smiles gone, once again let their heads fall.  
"We know, auntie. We don't try to do it." Vasha explained. Imali nodded. "Yeah. Vasha was really just protecting me from a bully is all..." She said, looking at her feet. Tali shot Garrus a very...specific look. A glance, combined with a stance which made up the facial expressions that Tali could not make. He had learned this look very well. It was the infamous 'you know what I want' look.

Tali wanted children. Wanted to adopt. The only issue was that, at the moment, she and Garrus did not live together. Weren't even married yet. Once they were married, Garrus was sure they would go through a heavy battle on deciding where to live. So, they would need to get past all that before even thinking about kids.

"I certainly hope that bully got what was coming to her." Garrus chuckled, walking up and snaking an arm around Tali's waist. The petite quarian leaned into his touch. "I really do. Wouldn't want people thinking they could get the better of a T'Soni." She said.

"Somehow, I don't think that will ever happen." A new voice said. Vasha and Imali turned slowly towards the voice, their faces brightening a thousand times over. The very mastermind of this scheme had revealed herself.

"Mom!" They screamed, running into their mothers tight embrace. By the time the three were together, tears were streaming down all their faces, Liara's possibly the biggest. Garrus and Tali sighed in awe. The sight of a mother reuniting with her children after three months was a sight to behold. They had noticed that every other person in the area, having noticed Liara's presence and identified her children, was now either clapping, crying or hugging their own children. Garrus noticed an asari giving the trio a disgusted look. A quick bark and a harsh word or six sent the matron scurrying.

On Thessia, Liara was well respected and supported by most of the population, but off-world, people criticized her, saying that at the tender 119 years of age, she was far too young to be a mother. That she was unfit to be a mother because of her commitments. For awhile, she received constant threats from unknown addresses that her kids would be taken from her, that selling them into slavery was a better alternative to being her daughters.

Aethyta walked up to the teary group and added her own arms to the hug, completing the reunion of the T'Soni family. While she wished her Liara would say something to her daughters, Aethyta had noticed an astounding amount of kisses landing on the crests of the twins. Maybe those kisses said far more than words for the two girls.

Tali nudged Garrus forward, and the turian reluctantly, for he did not want to interrupt the tender moment, poked Aethyta on the shoulder. "We'll go to the table. Take all the time you need." He said quietly. The matriarch nodded to them and turned back to the others. Garrus took Tali's hand and they calmly set off through the restaurant.

"How are you, loves?" Liara asked, sniffling and wiping tears away from her cheeks. Her two daughters looked up at with puffy red faces. "Better now, mom..." Vasha choked out.

"We missed you..." Imali followed. Liara smiled at the girls and wiped their tears away with her thumb. "Well I'm back now, sweetheart." She promised, bringing the girls into her chest once more.

"As beautiful as this reunion is, I'm really hungry. Can we go eat now?" Aethyta remarked, a hand on her growling stomach. Vasha rounded on her grandfather, her face a storm. "Really grandpa? Mom just got back and all you can think about is food?" She scolded. Aethyta grinned at her granddaughter.

"Well...yeah," She laughed. "I had to wake up early and get you two ready, fuzzballs. I didn't have time to eat breakfast, so I'm starving!" She exclaimed. Imali put her tiny hands on her hips and put on the most adorably angry face she could muster.

"Mom decides when we go eat!" She declared. A moment later, a loud rumble echoed from the little girls belly. Liara laughed and grabbed her daughters hand, also reaching out for Vasha's. "Come, daughters. Let's go eat." She said. Aethyta followed only too gratefully.

* * *

"If I eat any more, my suit will pop." Tali said with content, leaning back in her chair. Liara had spared no expense on her return to Thessia, purchasing a huge feast including all the best food from Thessia, Rannoch and Palaven. Garrus had been quite surprised when the meals from Palaven came out, saying that it was pretty difficult to get food like that even though he lived on the turian homeworld.

"You're a lightweight, aren't you Tali?" Aethyta laughed, still piling food into her mouth. The matriarch had been eating nonstop since getting to the table, her voracious appetite showing its face. Aethyta could eat for days and not gain a pound.

"Unfortunately, they do not make plus size enviro-suits, honored Matriarch." Tali said back indignantly. Garrus grinned next to her. "Well, a fat quarian would look more like a volus than anything else!" He laughed. Everyone laughed as Tali flicked a Thessian clam at her turian fiancé.

"Mom, how long are you home for this time?" Vasha asked, still picking at some salad. Liara cast a loving glance at her daughter. "Not sure, dear. There is still a lot to do before the first dome is finished."

"Actually Liara," Tali interrupted, clasping Garrus' hand on the table. "I have been speaking to the other Admirals...we want you to move back here to Thessia." She said. Liara's heart immediately screamed at her to accept the offer, but her mind refused.

"Move back? Ridiculous, Tali! There's still so much to do, an-"

Garrus held up one talon. "We thought you would say that. Here." He said, pulling out a datapad and handing it to her. Liara snatched it from him, quickly scanning it's contents. She finished it once, shook her head and began again. "Ho...how can yo..." She tried to say, reading the pad a third time.

"What does it say, Liara?" Aethyta asked, her eyes wide with interest. Very, _very_ little rendered her daughter speechless anymore. It used to be as easy as mentioning sex and she clapped up tighter than a priestesses underpants. Since having kids and all that now, she was a much more confident person. Something that stole her words form her now was entirely worth hearing about. Liara tenderly put that pad down on the table.

"Imali, Vasha, can you give us adults a few minutes to speak please?" She said lightly. The twins shot quick looks of concern at each other before whispering. Imali looked back at her mother. "Well, there's this store down the hall that had some really nice things in it. Can we go there?" She asked.

Liara nodded and reached into a pocket on her robe. "Yes you can. Here is my credit chit. Enjoy yourselves." She said, handing it to Vasha. The two girls excused themselves and ran off. Matriarch Aethyta snapped her fingers, beckoning Vasha to her side.

"One thing each, for you and your sister." She whispered. Vasha nodded and ran to catch up with her Imali. Aethyta turned her eyes back to Liara. "What is going on, Liara?" She asked, stuffing another piece of calamari into her mouth.

Liara looked shaken, and her hands trembled. "Tali and the Admirals have...exiled me from Rannoch." She said slowly. Aethyta stopped chewing and cast a curious glance at Tali and Garrus, waiting patiently for an explanation.

"Yes. Exile. Until further notice from the Admiralty Board." Tali said, her voice very stern. Liara looked deeply confused. Her eyes searched the table cloth for answers, seeming to think that she had done something wrong. Aethyta, watching Garrus' facial expression, caught on to the game quickly but chose to stay silent and let her daughter figure it out. She was so good at that.

"Garrus, can you go and make sure my daughters don't get into trouble, please?" Liara asked. She would have jumped at the chance for more alone time with her twins, but this needed her attention. The turian gave Tali's shoulder an affectionate squeeze as he got up and went to track down the two girls.

"Now, Tali. Tell me the details of my exile." Liara said, leaning back in her chair.

* * *

Garrus comfortably strolled down the hall towards the shop where Liara's daughters were supposed to be, enjoying the sights out the glass walls. The decision to exile Liara, made the day after he arrived on Rannoch, had him dumbstruck at first, but once he listened to the rationale behind it, it made sense. Tali had been completely right when she said that Liara would wholeheartedly refuse to leave on standard terms.

It wasn't an official exile. While Liara would not know it, she was free to go back whenever she pleased, but her staunch respect of rules dictated that she wouldn't. The goal was not to upset her; on the contrary, it was to make her see that things could be done without her constant watch. She may not believe when she is told, but her right hand man, Ali'Ha vas Tonbay, was just as qualified to do her job as she was. Ultimately, all she really did was organize and direct construction efforts. The scientific part of the domes was over.

Reaching the store, Garrus immediately found Imali, getting all googly eyed over a nice looking dress. He stalked up behind her and admired it as well. "Red is not your color, Imali." He said. The little girl jumped and whirled around, her breath quickening.

"Uncle Garrus! Don't scare me like that!" She squeaked, a hand on her chest. He laughed and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I don't mean to, but it's fun." He chuckled. Imali sighed and hugged his leg, still looking at the dress.

"What did you mean?" She asked, looking up at him. He glanced down to her. "What do you mean, what did I mean?"

"You said that red is not my color. What does that mean?" She asked, her eyes wide with wonder. Garrus scratched his chin. "Oh...well I don't actually know. It's...er...never mind, little one." He said, cringing. This was a terrible situation.

"How can you not know?" She asked, her eyes not moving from his. "You said it." _Fuck_. He thought. Without thinking, he had pulled Imali into a conversation about her father. Or maybe she pulled him into one. Regardless. It was bad.

"Well...it was a phrase that...a phrase that your father used once." He said reluctantly, carefully watching for tears or a quivering lip. To his surprise, Imali simply nodded and returned her eyes to the dress. He placed a hand on her crests, hoping that he hadn't just ignited some unforeseen problem.

"What was daddy like?" His eyes whipped down to the little girl at his feet when he heard the question. Thinking quickly, he looked around, making sure Liara or Aethyta weren't around. No doubt he would be skinned alive if they discovered he had been talking to the twins about Shepard.

He was probably Shepard's closest friend, if it could be said that she had friends in the traditional sense, seeing as he didn't know when she and Liara started getting close. He knew the most about her. Which, upon reflection wasn't that much either. Out in the hall, he spotted a small sectional couch area and pointed to it. "I'll go sit there. Go find your sister and come back. I'll tell you one or two stories about your dad." He said. Imali's eyes brightened and she quickly scampered off into the store.

Garrus walked over and settled on the couch, getting ready to undertake in a possibly deadly story time. He knew, very well, that Liara did not tell the girls stories about their father. She said that she would wait until a time when they were old enough to not be terribly affected by it. Not having a living father is apparently one of their biggest issues.

He had finally worked up a story good enough to not tell the girls stories about their dad when the two ran up. Both of them bore wide eyed expressions as they sat down, having only bought a juice each. "Ima said that you were going to tell stories about dad!" She exclaimed. Hearing the excitement in her voice made him melt inside. He couldn't deny these girls to hear about the dad they will never know. He just had to make sure that they wouldn't go do something stupid. "This doesn't make you two sad?" He asked.

Both girls shook their heads firmly. "Not at all! Daddy was the hero of the galaxy! She sounds cool, but mom and grandpa never tell us stories about her!" Imali said happily, jumping up and down and pretending to shoot a gun. Garrus could only grin, but in his mind he was a bit worried. Why had Liara, and maybe more alarming, Aethyta not told them stories?

He leaned back, clasping his hands behind his head. "I guess I could tell you about the time that your dad beat up six batarians because they were called your mom a rotten azure." He laughed. The girls cocked their heads at him. "Uncle Garrus...what's an azure?"

_Fuck me!_ He screamed into his head, scrambling. "It's...uh...a fish. Yeah. A fish." He said, hoping that the twins never mentioned this to Liara. If he told the girls what azure really was, Liara would flay him alive. With her mind. And she would enjoy it. Immensely.

"Dad beat up a bunch of batarians because they called mom a fish?" Vasha wondered aloud. Garrus nodded quickly.

"Oh yeah. Anyway, we were on the Citadel, walking through the markets when we noticed a commotion..." He began. The two girls were wide eyed and perfectly quiet, listening with the utmost attention. "We checked it out, and this batarian was complaining that he'd been tricked out of some money by this volus named Barla Von. Him and his friends were threatening to break all the guys stuff if he didn't give them their money back. So your mom checked the math."  
"Sounds like mom." Ima grumbled, shooting a death glare at her sister when Vasha swatted her. "Shush, Ima. Listen to the story." She said. Garrus chuckled at their exchange before continuing.

"She told the batarian that the volus had not tricked him in any way, and even showed him how everything checked out evenly. The batarian snatched his credit chit back from her and yelled 'You rotten azure! You're probably working with the volus!'. To everyone, it seemed like your dad didn't care about it."

"She didn't care that the mean batarian called mommy a fish?" Imali asked, much to her sisters annoyance. Garrus shook his head somberly. "Oh no. She actually laughed, and your mom got really mad at her. We thought it was over and done with, but that night, your dad came and asked me to go with her on an errand. I agreed, and we went into some really rundown alleyways. Your dad found those batarians and beat them until they could barely walk."

"And mom never knew?" Vasha asked, the tables turning as Imali now looked back with an annoyed glance. Garrus held up a talon. "Not immediately. Later the next day, she was watching the news with Auntie Tali and Uncle Wrex, and up came a news report about six batarians who were all hospitalized after a brawl. When your mom asked your dad about it, your dad insisted that she knew nothing about it, but your mom was always smarter."

"How did she figure it out?" Vasha asked. Garrus chuckled and made a fist with his hand. "Your dads knuckles were bruised on both hands, and they hadn't been the day before." He laughed. The girls stared at him in wonder before giggling at the thought of their father doing something so reckless and trying to sneak it past their mom.

"Well, that's cool and all, but what about some action? Like tell us about dad shooting down a cruiser or sniping a krogan bandit or something like that!" Vasha cheered, making a gun with her fingers and pretending to snipe something. Imali giggled uncontrollably, watching her sister jump back and forth over the couch, pretending that she was a commando on a battlefield.

Garrus had to admit that it was quite an amusing show. Until Vasha caught her foot on the backrest of the couch and began to tumble over the side. Garrus rocketed from his seat, catching her just before her head hit the hard floor. Slowly, he lifted the girl and placed her back on her feet. "Are you alright?" He asked, his heart returning to it's normal rate. Steadily.

"Yeah, just a little scared...what's wrong, Ima?" She asked, looking past him. Garrus turned around and looked at Imali, the little girls eyes wider than saucers. "How did you move so fast, Uncle Garrus?" She asked slowly.

The turian scratched his chin with a laugh. "I had to develop some pretty good reflexes working with your dad. The things we did weren't exactly safe." He said, heading back over to his seat and sitting down again. Vasha did the same, next to her sister.

"Tell us about you and dad kicking butt!"

"Alright. This one time on Omega..."

XXX

"You knew Archangel?" Draga asked incredulously. Zaia nodded. "Oh yeah. Was an old friend of mine." She said resting her head on the couch she was laying on. They had left Tiber that morning, as soon as the port opened. They were probably four hours out from the Citadel now. Zaia had decided, maybe against her better judgment, that she should get to know Draga better, and vice versa.

Shepard maintained a type of assassins honor. Mistakes were not something you made and forgot about. One of her main characteristics was control; she prided herself on maintaining full control of herself at all times. She broke that when she almost killed the pilot. Then, she told Draga more than she had told anyone for ten years. At this point, she might as well get close to the asari.

"I'm sure you've heard of Garrus Vakarian?" Draga nodded immediately, clicking something and bringing up a picture on her omni-tool. In it was Draga and two asari girls, no older than maybe seven or eight. Behind them, with his hand on Draga's shoulder, was Garrus. "He was at the opening of the new colony on Horizon around three years ago. I was flying a shuttle for a diplomat, and he let me bring my two nieces along. We ran into Mr. Vakarian there and he let us get a picture with him. "He was so nice and patient with my nieces too! Oh, if all men could be like hi-"

"He was Archangel. Just so you know." Zaia couldn't help but snicker as the look of disappointment seeped into Draga's face. It seemed that letting her two young nieces get a picture with a mercenary, no, a _killer_ didn't sit to well with her.

"Don't worry though. Garrus isn't a scoundrel or anything. He's a better person than I am, by more than a parsec."

"A bit of an odd expression..." Draga said slowly. Zaia shrugged. "I was drunk one night and heard something like that on some stupid vid-cast from Earth. Didn't really care if it was right or not. Anyway, Garrus is a better person than me. In a lot of ways." She answered. She couldn't remember the name of the vid, but it had something to do with a harvest or whatever. Crystal made stupid things seem interesting sometimes.

"Oh. If I ever meet him again, I'll ask him about it." Draga commented dryly, closing the image on her omni-tool. Shepard walked over to the small kitchenette, reaching into the fridge and pulling out a bottle of her favorite liquor. Grabbing a glass, she dropped two blocks of ice in it and filled it.

"None for me?" Draga asked, eying the bottle hungrily. Zaia took a long drink and pointed at her threateningly. "No pilot of mine is going to be drinking while I'm on this ship. Don't need you crashing into the Citadel because you're too drunk to see straight. You can go drinking when we get there." She snapped. The pilot simply rolled her eyes and nodded.

Another hour rolled by, neither of the women exchanging many words and paying more attention to data pads than each other. Shepard was amazed at how easy it felt, and perhaps even more surprised at how _good_ it felt to spend time with someone without wanting to rip their guts out through their throats.

For the past ten years, every day had been like that. Simply wanting to kill because it didn't hurt. Everything else she could do hurt. Except drink. That didn't hurt.

From the very first day of her servitude to the Council, her life had been hell. Hell because she couldn't do what she wanted, when she wanted. Hell because she wasn't allowed to see or speak to anyone other than those who received permission. Hell because she couldn't see _her_. The one person who understood Zaia Shepard to the most recessive gene. Liara.

Liara had been Shepard's world from the moment she pulled the bumbling scientist out of death's hand on Therum. She was so innocent, so malleable, so...predictable. At the same time, she wasn't predictable. She took chances, extreme risks. To the rest of the crew of the SR-1, Liara played everything close to chest, by the book. Zaia knew exactly otherwise.

Liara was an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur of experiences. While everyone thought she was poring over ancient cosmic questions, she was really calculating her chances of pulling something off. For whatever reason, Liara decided that Shepard would be a good risk. Upon melding with Shepard the first time, to try and help her understand the message from the Prothean Beacon, Liara was frightened by the sheer darkness of the mind she dove into.

For weeks, she avoided Shepard under the guise that she had been ordered to do so by the authoritative commander, which was believable. Zaia had been generally unkind back then; Her harsh childhood on Earth, twined together with her ruthless reputation and downright cold disposition in military and subsequent N7 service molded her into something that nobody got close to.

Even today, Zaia still hated most people. Found that people were much quicker inclined to betray you, or sell you out, or turn you in, whatever. Trust was a foolish ideal. It was always thrown down when survival came into question. Nobody would ever go back and risk themselves to save someone when they could save themselves with ease.

That was Shepard's mantra. Trust nobody. Ever. Have the ability, the guts even, to get the job done yourself. Never place faith in others to do their part because they never would. She stuck to that mantra throughout the fight with Saren. Until Virmire. Everything changed on Virmire.

The preparations to arm the bomb had been made, and Ashley was a moment away from setting the timer. Kaidan had offered his life in order to buy them the time to destroy the facility. That alone shook the cold Shepard down to the very core. Nobody she had ever worked with willingly gave themselves to death for others. It was stupid. Ridiculous. She would never give her life for someone elses.

After arming the bomb and getting onto the Normandy, Shepard was given terrible news: Liara had struck out on her own in a bid to rescue Kaidan. The usually cold and calculating commander immediately set out after the scientist. Zaia followed a path of biotic destruction through the compound until she caught up, and the-

"Were you aware that Garrus Vakarian is getting married?"

Zaia shot up from her laying position on the couch, her eyes wide. "Excuse me?" She asked incredulously. Draga nodded, hey eyes on her omni-tool. "Yep. Palaven Galactic News announced it six hours ago. Guess who the bride is?" Shepard walked over to the fridge and pulled her Crystal back out. Pouring and downing a glass, she thought for a moment. "Hm...is she turian?"

"No."

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy."

Draga rose her eyes to the spectre is surprise. "How did you guess? Have you seen this already?" She asked. Zaia shook her head. "No. I knew they were getting cozy when we worked together on the Normandy."

"But...that was ten or more years ago!" Draga exclaimed. Zaia shrugged. "Tali was obviously not with Garrus when you met him. That little quarian has Garrus by the pelvic scales." She said casually. It was quite true.

"I thought he was the ruthless Archangel?" Zaia burst out with laughter, almost dropping her glass. "Ruthless! Hah! Put him around Tali and Garrus becomes turian goo." She choked out. Draga frowned and turned her attention back to the omni.

"Huh. Three separate ceremonies. Rannoch, Palaven and the Citadel. Wonder why they did that." She said, looking pointedly at the spectres back. Shepard thought for a minute, downing another glass of Crystal.

"They're both heroes of their races. Makes sense that a wedding would be an intergalactic affair. When is the main ceremony?" She asked, sitting down across from the pilot. Draga scrolled down the page, her eyes flicking across the screen.

"Two months. To take place in Geen Pak, the very first of the Rannoch Puradomes, and...holy shit..." Draga trailed off and her eyes grew wide.

"What is it?" Shepard asked, feeling her fifth glass of Crystal begin to haze the edges of her vision. "They are expecting...almost ten thousand guests!" Draga exclaimed. Zaia smirked.

"No way that's the official ceremony. All three are just to appease the political morons in the galaxy. They have another one planned. Probably small and private." She said, downing the rest of her bottle of Crystal in one long gulp. Draga cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are you going to be in good enough shape to report to the Council with a full bottle of buzz?" She asked pointedly.

Shepard snickered, placing the empty bottle on the ground by the couch. "I've reported to Sparatus with three bottles down once. Funniest thing ever. I threw up all over his favorite suit. Fucking hilarious." She giggled. Draga cracked a smile at the buzzed spectre before heading towards the cockpit. "Well, get some sleep. We have just over three hours until we get to the Citadel."

* * *

Zaia couldn't help the disgusted snarl that hit her face when she entered the Council chambers. The only councilor present was the one she hated most. Sparatus. The smug bastard stood at his podium with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Job is done. Loxx eliminated, no leads." She grunted, keeping her eyes blank and hard. The turian councilor looked unimpressed and quickly typed something into his terminal.

"Good. You leave again immediately." He said rudely. Shepard swore inwardly and typed a brief message to Draga. A bare moment later, her omni buzzed with a reply.

_I'm at a cafe on the Presidium. What's up? _Shepard quickly typed back.

_Stay there. _She sent the message and turned her attention back to Sparatus. The turian clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing. "I'm sure you have heard the news about Garrus Vakarian marrying that quarian harpy, Tali'Zorah."

Shepard eyebrow twitched in fury at the councilors words. It wasn't public knowledge that Sparatus was a xenophobic jackass who hated quarians the most, and somehow the Council had simply overlooked that fact when he was elected. Zaia hated most people, yes. However, all her squad mates from the Normandy were exempt from that law. She would never admit it out loud, but those who fought with her were the closest thing she had to a family. A very, very distant family.

"I have." She answered shortly. Thanks to Draga of course, but who was keeping track.

"Good. Now, while I am against this wedding, it is good for the turian people. As such, I need you to eliminate a problem for me." He said officially. Now it made sense why he was the only one there. This was personal.

"Give me a name." Zaia grunted. She wanted to cut any conversation with the turian councilor as short as possible. The councilor clicked something on his terminal, and Zaia's omni buzzed with the message.

"There is a jingoistic turian group called Morte Fiero who have voiced intent to assassinate Tali for corrupting Garrus. As much as I would hate for such an..._accident_," Zaia did not miss the sarcasm in the councilors voice, "To happen, it would be terrible for galactic relations. This will be a new type of mission for you."

"New?" Zaia asked. She had done almost anything that could be considered a 'mission', and that including killing a man while he had sex with his daughter and son at the same time. Fucked up stuff.

"This is will be an Extermination. I need you to kill Morte Fiero."

"That the leaders name?" Zaia grunted. Sparatus shook his head.

"No. I need you to kill Morte Fiero. Everyone. Every single last member. Do I need to explain?" He said expectantly, his avian eyes boring into Zaia's.

"No." Shepard said, her face stony as she walked out of the Council Chambers.

XXX

The Presidium cafe was decently busy when Zaia got there, but nobody would ever recognize her. When she was 'alive', Zaia's hair was brown and her eyes a bright emerald green. The extra cybernetics work done on her, in combination with her Woede Syndrome had turned her eyes from bright green to bright violet. Her hair had, technically, mutated from green to red. That's what the scientists said at least.

Draga sat at a corner table with another asari and, interestingly, a drell. Didn't see too many of them around, despite the fact that the race was now increasing in numbers. For whatever odd reason, the drell population on Kahje exploded after the Reaper war. Ten years ago there were less than 340,000 living drell. As of last year, there are over one million, and that number goes up every day.

She headed for the table, but stopped when she heard a loud laugh. "Don't worry, Dad. I'm sure that Mother won't cut you off!"

Dad? No, didn't make sense. Drell didn't live that long. He was probably a step-father. The asari that Draga had referred to as mother looked old, distinguished. Either a matriarch or just beneath it. Zaia wrestled with herself for a moment before leaving the cafe, heading to her skycar. As she walked, she pulled up the omni and typed a message to Draga.

_You have three hours.I'll be on the Angel._

* * *

**Did you like it? I hope so! Reviews always welcome, and I'll post chapter 5 as soon as I can!**


	5. Caius Corium

**Hello readers! Happy June! I am pleased to bring you Chapter 5 of Violet Eyes!**

* * *

"The possibility of Garrus Vakarian being assassinated is a risk we cannot allow!" Sparatus yelled angrily. Councilor Han'Gerrel stood his ground in front of the larger turian.

"And so you ordered the killing of an entire political group!?" He shouted back. This meeting of the Council had been called as soon as Han'Gerrel had seen the mission report that Sparatus had quietly filed two hours ago. Tevos and the other Councilors were appalled that the turian would ever order such a thing.

"Morte Fiero is a terrorist group and must be handled as such!" Sparatus declared, waving his hands. Tevos looked on with an annoyed look on her face. "Sparatus, Morte Fiero has never once committed an act of terrorism. The are a separatist group, yes, but a peaceful one that still has voting rights on Palaven. Ordering Shepard to kill the entire group is nothing short of pointless murder."

"Oh Tevos, now you speak of nobility? All of us have ordered an assassination. Is that not pointless murder?" The turian yelled mockingly at the asari. Tevos maintained her calm composure, but it was the human councilor who spoke.

"Yes, we have all ordered hits, but hits that result in benefits on a large scale. Morte Fiero made no threat on Garrus Vakarians life, yet you said they did. Why did you do that, Councilor?" Nicholas Cooper asked. He had risen through the political ranks quickly back on Earth, and soon found himself being recommended for the Council. An honest man, Cooper held himself to high morals and values.

"Pre-meeting research indicates that Morte Fiero openly supports a rival candidate of Councilor Sparatus' nephew within the Hierarchy. Initial statistics suggest that this rival would win election with Morte Fiero's votes. Possibly personal reasons for hit. Facts disturbing." The salarian Councilor, Huuru Povya, commented from his seat.

"You people lack the foresight to see what such a group could do! That fool that Morte Fiero supports in the Hierarchy is looking to overthrow the entire government!" Sparatus yelled, pointing for a moment to each of his four colleagues.  
"Story has changed. Interesting turn. Morte Fiero is a rib, not the head of the beast. Why not kill the head instead of slow the beast?" Huuru asked, tilting his head curiously. Cooper nodded and pulled up his omni. "Yes, that is true. Why did you not send Shepard after this black sheep instead of Morte Fiero?" He asked, typing a message on his omni. Sparatus glared at the salarian, hate burning in his eyes.

"The Hierarchy is too secure and high profile to pull off a direct hit. I could not send Shepard after the politician until we rattled his cage." He grunted. Huuru shook his head.

"Not valid excuse. You wanted to call a hit on a human politician known as the 'Vice-President.' Second in command on Earth I believe. Cooper?" The human councilor nodded at the salarian. "Is the human government not secure and high profile?" Huuru finished.

"Not as much as the Hierarchy." Sparatus growled. Huuru nodded and spoke as soon as Sparatus finished, seemingly having his answer prepared. "That hit was well placed. Politician ex-Cerberus terrorist. Shepard made hit perfect. No leads. Affair buried. Why not same with Hierarchy?"

"I'm sure that Shepard could make the hit. What is that politicians name?" Cooper asked, looking at his salarian counterpart.

"Caius Corium. Currently on Tuchanka on a questionable mission with the krogan. Unsure of his goals." Huuru said, a long finger on his chin in thought. Sparatus smirked. "Exactly. He's there bargaining with the krogan for support when he overthrows the Hierarchy!"

"Wrong again. Reports indicate that Corium has been looking into hiring a high profile bodyguard. Any idea why?" Cooper asked, his eyes steady on Sparatus. The turian councilor snarled at the human. "Probably to watch his back while he undermines the turian race!"

Tevos clapped her hands together, drawing the attention of the other councilor's. "Perfect. We'll plant Shepard as Corium's bodyguard. Shouldn't be hard at all to make a clean kill." The asari said first looking at Sparatus, and now turning to Cooper.

"Councilor Cooper, Councilor Huuru, I'm placing authority over this mission with you. Make the call. This session is adjourned." The asari finished before walking out, Han'Gerrel following. Sparatus stormed out behind them, mumbling curses under his breath.

Once they were alone, Cooper slumped into his chair, blowing out a sigh of relief. Sparatus had always intimidated the young man, always made it seem like he would win every dispute they got into. This time, Nicholas beat him at his own game.

"Smart of you, Nicholas, to suggest researching the matter beforehand. Was surprised to see Titus Lineum involved. Sparatus' nephew has risen through the Hierarchy quickly for one so young." Huuru said, taking the seat opposite Coopers.

"I agree...do you think this will impact the plan? Don't want to go back to square one after we finally put an asari on the Fallen Angel." He said, casting a sidelong glance at his salarian friend. Huuru shook his head and pulled up a file on his omni.

"On the contrary, I believe it will help. Shepard has not felt 'free' for ten years. This will give her some space to flex her muscle. Give her the chance to...live once more. I think we should remove all her restrictions. It will allow her to act on instinct."

Cooper nodded. "How can we be sure this won't backfire?"

"We cannot be sure. Calculating risk is also useless when it comes to Zaia Shepard. Calculated chance of us winning war with Reapers was perfect zero, yet, win we did. With her leadership." Huuru rattled off. His omni beeped and began to chime it's call tone. A moment later, an uncommonly serene face answered the call.

"Councilor Huuru." Came Zaia Shepard's voice. The absence of a swear or worse was surprising. The salarian councilor dipped his head for a bare moment. "Shepard. Your orders have changed."

A loud sigh came from the other end of the call. "Is this another game?" She asked. Huuru looked shocked in his seat, his mouth opening in disbelief.

"This isn't a game, Shepard," Cooper began, coming around behind Huuru. He noticed that Shepard's eyes immediately narrowed as he came into view. "Your orders have changed. Do not hit any member of Morte Fiero. They are not the target."

"Who is?" Shepard hissed. Cooper knew that Shepard did not like him. Hell, she had all the reason to hate other humans. After the Battle for Earth, humanity did everything it could to try and use her image to gain galactic prestige and advantage. He had voted no to everything, but it all passed. Truth be told, the whole reason he left Earth was because of all that.

"A turian politician named Caius Corium. He's trying to overthrow the Hierarchy and is counting on Morte Fiero's votes in the next elections to move up." Cooper sent a message containing an address to Shepard's omni. "I just sent you the location of a black market arms dealer. He should have armor for mercs there. You are to pose as a high end mercenary and become Coriums personal bodyguard."

"I have armor, and how the hell am I going to do that? He's a politician, not a drug dealer." Shepard retorted.

"Corium must think that a hit could happen any time. He's on Tuchanka right now looking to hire the most dangerous merc he can find. You are to be that merc. Find a way to make the kill look like an accident. You will have complete autonomy for this mission."

Instantly, at the word autonomy, Shepard face brightened and her eyes twinkled. "Autonomy? Full? No restrictions on travel or interaction? Does Sparatus or Tevos know about this?"

"Us two have authority for this mission, Shepard. You answer to us. Complete autonomy. Make wise use of it." Huuru commented. Shepard grinned and disconnected. Huuru did his best impersonation of Cooper's token sigh.

"Not long now. Nicholas, we must finish our preparations to undermine the Council."

XXX

Zaia sat on the Fallen Angel, a massive grin across her face. Full autonomy. Two words she had only dreamed of for the past decade. The chance to loosen the leash the council had tied around her neck. She had not been this happy in more than a few years.

At the same time, she was suspicious. More suspicious than she'd been in more than a few years. Why now? What did Huuru and Cooper have to gain from this? There couldn't be any other reason why they would give her this chance.

Huuru was the one councilor she didn't completely despise. For a salarian, he was surprisingly calm and laid back. Rarely did he go overboard while he was talking and from what little Shepard knew of him, he was brutally honest about things. No smoke and mirrors.

Cooper was another oddball among the Council. Both he and Huuru were newbies, having been in their positions for less then six months each. From her brief and often unpleasant interactions with him, she had labeled him as a good man, very uptight with his morals and values and hyper intelligent. He wasn't a complete enigma though. Rumor has it that he has a dark past.

Two years after the Battle for Earth, a huge real estate company had pretty much taken over the galactic market. Cooper Real Estate, easily a two billion credit business, was run by a vicious old hag by the name of Greta Cooper, Nicholas' mother. She had recently divorced her husband, but kept Nicholas so that his father would be forced to pay child support.

Then, under mysterious circumstances, Greta Cooper died. No body was ever presented to the public, nor was there a burial, or at least one that was heard of. A month later, twenty year old Nicholas Cooper sold the entire business to the Systems Alliance for six hundred million credits and joined the military.

For two years, he served as a marine aboard the frigate SSV Durban.

The frigate was sent on a critical rescue mission in the Hourglass Nebula to rescue scientists aboard a threatened station. The planet that was under study had, within the last thousand years, been impacted by something foreign and large. Most evidence pointed to a comet. The unstable core and begun to explode, thus the station was a risk and thirty four scientists needed to be evacuated.

After a successful evac, the frigate was silently boarded by Blood Pack mercs using stolen cloaking technology. Of the fifty marines that called the frigate home, thirty of them were killed in their sleep. The remaining twenty fought back against the mercs while the scientists watched. Seventeen died. Two were seriously injured. Twenty two year old Nicholas Cooper was the only combat capable marine left. He sent all the scientists, along with his injured comrades, to the bridge, locked the door and bunked down in the hallway to give them time.

When relief finally arrived, the Blood Pack was long gone, having retreated. A hard line; nobody knew how many mercs there had been, but the body count in the hallway outside the bridge was rumored to be around seventy.

Upon return to Sol, Cooper was awarded the Medal of Earth, the highest military honor, and honorably discharged with about ten other minor awards and medals. He was entirely against it, wanting to continue serving. The Alliance wouldn't let it happen, so Cooper did the next best thing: became a politician.

Six years passed as he worked for Systems Alliance embassies all over the galaxy before he was asked to campaign for the human Council opening. He won it in a fair and square landslide. A human kid, barely out of his twenties and serving on the Council alongside nine hundred year old Tevos. He was a soldier, but not a career soldier. He was a politician, but not a lifelong one. That made him a dangerous hybrid in the political world.

She slowly realized that this was a chance to change things. To change the rules of her servitude, make this whole deal more...tolerable. She would take this opportunity and...do nothing with it. Do her mission and return. Maybe...just maybe, the Council will give her more autonomy missions. Maybe one near Thessia, and then she could se-

"Shepard!" Draga yelled as she entered the ship. Zaia cast an annoyed glance at the pilot. "You know, this room is like a megaphone. Shout again, and I might just cut your tongue out."

Draga waved her off. "You won't and you know it. What's going on?" She asked, ignoring Shepard's growl of warning.

"We have a mission."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? I would have come immediately!" She exclaimed, heading for the cockpit.

"Why didn't you tell me that your step father is a drell?" Shepard asked. She wasn't really poking fun or anything. Just seemed like an appropriate response.

"You never asked. Where are we going?" She replied, buckling into the pilot's seat. Her hands flashed across the dashboard as the ship's engine whispered to life. While the Fallen Angel couldn't hold a candle to the Normandy in many ways, it beat the SR-2 in stealth.

"Tuchanka. Head to Fang Gorge. The target is a turian named Caius Corium. He's looking for a bodyguard. I'm going to be that bodyguard." Zaia said with a smile.

"Bodyguard? Isn't spill and split usually your style?" Draga asked over the comm, the cockpit door having closed. Shepard frowned at the expression.

"Spill and split? What the hell are you saying?"

"It's a line from the new Blasto movie. Have you not seen it?" Draga asked, clearly laughing at Shepard's expense.

"That fucking jellyfish is an insult to my job. I was forced to see the first two movies against my will, and I swear if I see another, that stupid actor will be my next target!"

XXX

Garrus sighed in pleasure as he lay on the bed, a naked Tali laying next to him, her peaceful face not marred by her mask. The heraproxis would wear off in a few hours, just in time for morning. They had given her a double dose late the previous night so she could sleep with him without her suit.

Watching Tali remove her suit was a divine pleasure for Garrus; it always resulted in several hours of explosive sex. She had voiced once that she would like to remove the suit and not be almost raped moments later, but she never once said no to him.

He slowly eased himself off the bed, reaching over his sleeping lover and covering her with the silky blankets that Liara kept in the estate. Another thing that she used to keep the memory of Zaia Shepard alive. Shepard had always preferred silk above any other material, and that preference had shed off onto Liara.

Her put on a robe and headed down the stairs, glad that he and Tali had remembered to stop and buy loads of dextro food and drink on their way back to the estate. Liara, Aethyta and the twins remained at Cloud Keep, taking a family vacation that would last through the remaining suspension time for the two girls.

He and Tali were staying on Thessia for the next three weeks until Geen Pak was finished. Liara had insisted that they stay with her and her daughters, which was fine. The giant home was beautiful and exotic, a perfect getaway. Throw in the fact that the two of them had been alone for the past six days, and things were splendid.

He took out a cocktail for himself and walked out to the veranda. His favorite thing about homes on Thessia were the verandas each home had. It was apparently a gift for architects to pick out the best place for the veranda to offer the most spectacular view.

The nights were warm this time of year, and the skies were clear. Garrus had a breathtaking view of the stars above the mansion, another wonderful thing about Thessia. Outside of the big cities, there were hardly any lights, so the stars were never drowned out.

As he lifted the glass to his beak, his eyes snapped to attention. The door to the kitchen and living area had opened. He placed the glass back on the table and quickly scrambled to the shadows of the dark home. His time as the infamous Archangel had taught him things that no military training or C-Sec could ever teach.

Of course, this would happen the one time that he didn't have a gun. Tali had forbid him from bringing any weapons to Thessia with them because they would be seeing Vasha and Imali. His eyes caught a light footstep in the kitchen. It couldn't have been more than five feet away from him, and coming closer.

He held his breath in anticipation. A shadowy form stepped just past him onto the veranda. Taking his chance, he grabbed the intruder and put him in a headlock. The intruder quickly responded, elbowing him twice in the ribs and breaking his headlock. He registered the biotic flare as a push charged up, and dove to the right. The biotic blast barely caught his arm and knocked him back into the kitchen. As he rolled to try and get up, the intruder, who was clearly asari, jumped onto his back, trying to restrict his movement.

Garrus was much stronger, physically, than most asari and he threw her off, jumping to his feet. The starlight coming in through the wide veranda doors gave him enough light to see the outline of the asari, but nothing else. In a flurry, he traded blows with the intruder, landing three or four punches while his adversary landed two. His longer reach made it difficult for her to land good shots without taking a few herself.

He put all his force behind one last punch, but the smaller asari ducked and kicked him in the chest. He stumbled back and caught himself on the counter. Reaching over, he grabbed a knife and brandished it like a turian sabre.

The intruder charged him, and he charged back. Just before reaching each other, the asari slid down, knocking Garrus' feet out from under him. He struck the floor painfully and dropped his knife, but rolled over just as a biotic fist cracked the tile floor where his head had been moments before. Punching the asari off him, he leaped up, grabbed the intruder and hurled her through the door into the living room.

Grabbing the knife off the floor, he rushed into the room and dove onto the asari, stabbing the knife down viciously. He hit tile the first time but flesh the second, hearing a painful cry as the satisfying gurgle of the blade sliding through what he believed to be her left side.

He rose the blade, fully intent on killing the intruder there, but suddenly he was launched through the opposite wall and into another room. Whoever this asari was, she was a talented biotic. Even tiny pushes from her put him through solid walls.

Groaning, he struggled to his feet, just in time to get thrown back again as the asari launched herself horizontally, crashing both her feet into his chest. He bumped into a desk that had a monitor on it. Grabbing it, he whipped it around, shattering it on her shoulder.

He punched her twice in the stomach before throwing her back through the hole in the wall and into the living room once more. Stepping through, he found the knife on the floor and picked it up. The asari rolled on the ground, obviously still trying to get her wind back. He jumped over her and held the knife at her throat, preparing to spill her wretched blood all over the floo-

The light in the room flicked on. "Garrus!? What are you doing?" Tali yelled. He noticed that she was in full suit and..._and_ had a shotgun. He looked back at the asari under his talons. Shiala lay there, a brutally confident look on her face. Garrus had the knife to her throat, yes. He had not noticed the Carnifex that she had to his.

"You know," She panted. "I always wondered how I would do against the famous Archangel."

* * *

"I would call it a tie." Garrus said again, drinking his cocktail and sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter. He, Shiala and Tali were now in the kitchen, he and Shiala enjoying drinks while Tali fussed over their injuries.

"How was that a tie? I clearly had the upper hand." The commando said with a snicker. Garrus cocked an eyebrow at her. "Really? I feel that I must point out that of the two of us, you are the only one who is bleeding."

"Actually, dear, you are bleeding quite a bit on your back here." Tali commented. Shiala snickered again at Garrus as he rolled his eyes. Tali had, as soon as she found them, herded them both into the kitchen and retrieved a med kit. Shiala had the worst injury, taking the form of a nice gash that Garrus had given her on the underside of her left arm with the knife. She also had a few shards of glass embedded in her shoulder from the monitor.

"Ow!" Garrus yelped as Tali pulled something out of him. Her hand appeared over his shoulder, holding a pretty big wooden shard.

"This was in your back. I have to give you some stitches. Lay down somewhere." She ordered. Garrus grumbled as he settled down onto the kitchen tile. Tali was a good medic and could stitch very well, but he thought that she sometimes gave him stitches for things that really didn't need them. Of course, she never let him argue.

"So Shiala. I heard you were on a security detail. How did that go?" He asked as he felt the slight prick of Tali's needle. It was more annoying than anything else.

"Not well, I'm afraid." The commando answered.

"That bad?" Tali asked, her face still focused on Garrus' back. The commando shook her head in retrospect. "One of the two people I was guarding was assassinated." She answered, almost nonchalantly.

"Assassinated?" Garrus and Tali wondered together. Garrus in particular was alarmed by this. Not too long back, a high end crime lord on Palaven died mysteriously. No leads or evidence at all. Just a guy with a cut throat. Shiala took ten minutes to explain the story behind how Loxx the batarian became Oriana Lawsons personal aide and about the Council grant.

"Yes. The worst part? The assassin came and told me that he would be killing Loxx. Caught me in a damn bath. Then, when I got to the batarians apartment, he was already dead. Every possible bit of information about his connection to the Blue Suns and all that was pulled up on his computer." Shiala said bitterly. After revealing all the information contained in Loxx' computer, in secret of course, to both Oriana and the Council, it was decided that the matter be buried and forgotten. The Council said that while it in no way endorses assassination, this kill was a blessing in disguise. If Loxx had not been killed, the Council grant and the new colony would be gone.

"That's all? Just bury it and let it go?" Garrus asked, a knowing strain in his voice. This is exactly the type of Citadel, Council bullshit that drove him insane.

"Yes. He left me a message too."

"A message?" Garrus wondered, now intrigued. Shiala nodded, taking another gulp of her drink. "On a datapad that I found on Loxx's desk. All it said was 'you're welcome.'"

Tali perked up. She had finished the stitching on Garrus' back and was now sitting next to him, a fresh cocktail open in front of her. "Do you still have the pad? Or was it taken for evidence?" She asked, genuinely interest evident in her voice.

Shiala nodded and pointed to the front of the mansion. "Yes. It is packed in with my other things on the skycar. How is this relevant, exactly?"

Tali tsked confidently. "It is relevant because if the killer used the pad, it may have snapped a picture." Shiala's mouth dropped in amazement. "Taken a picture? Why and how?" She asked.

The quarian engineer thought for a moment before speaking. "Most datapads used by politicians are equipped with a mechanism that takes a picture of its user once they use a program, sort of a safety measure. That way they can check exactly who has been using the pads to check for fraud or anything like that." Tali took a moment to figure out which bag it was in, then went outside to the skycar to try and find it.

A few minutes later, the quarian came back, the datapad in hand. "So...I feel that I should just point out that when Liara sees what you two did to her home, I doubt that she will be happy." She mentioned, sitting down once more. Garrus grimaced as he thought about the damage to the beautiful estate. The kitchen was mostly unharmed apart from being messy, but the living room and that other room were completely demolished.

"When is the Mistress due back?" Shiala asked, concern painted on her face. Garrus could only imagine what Shiala might have been feeling when she thought about how she had just partially destroyed her beloved Mistresses home.

"In the morning, unfortunately. We may have some explaining to do, Shiala." Garrus started with a groan. "I hope she doesn't mind a quick remodel..."

Shiala grinned at the turian, her eyes half lidded in amusement. "I think, Garrus, that you may be in a bit more trouble than I." She said innocently. Garrus turned his eyes to her in confusion.

"How's that?" He asked. The commando jerked her head in the direction of one of the rooms. "That computer that you destroyed? It was a pretty special one."

Garrus' face blanched. "Special one? Which...oh no..." Shiala nodded as realization struck the turian. Garrus slapped a hand to his face. "Not _that_ computer!" He lamented.

"Yes, Garrus," Shiala began somberly. "The computer that contains all the mission files from the war against Saren through the end of the Reaper War. You essentially destroyed a museum. And the last personal audio logs of Commander Zaia Shepard."

Tali snapped her fingers, getting the attention of her horrified fiance "If I may continue my explanation, Garrus," She said, casting a glance at the turian, who was still drinking nervously from his cocktail. "When the killer typed their message on this pad, it might have snapped a picture of them using it. Its mostly a safety measure." Tali mused as she clicked through the pads programming.

Shiala shook her head in wonder. "Oh, the things that the galaxy could learn from quarians..." She sighed. A bare minute later, Tali held up the pad to her companions.

"That is our killer..." She mumbled.

XXX

Zaia stared at the helmet of her Micro-Steel armor. This armor suit had cost her a fortune, but it was entirely worth it. Micro-Steel was a rare alloy only made by freelance scientists, mostly out of the Terminus Systems even though some make it on Council Space worlds.

The real recipe involved hundreds of pages of scientific mumbo-jumbo that Shepard didn't particularly care to understand, but the general idea was that ship quality steel was crushed between mass effect fields into hyper thin, hyper lightweight sheets. Despite being so thin and light, Micro-Steel was intensely durable and strong.

Due to Zaia's love for tight leather suits that gave her unmatched mobility, she contracted some terrorists to stitch the armor onto commando leathers using metallic strands. Then she killed them for being terrorists.

Her suit was weakest at the joints, where the plates of Micro-Steel were connected only by weak hinges, giving Zaia mobility with protection. She herself painted the metal a sapphire blue with tendrils of green snaking across the flat planes. Each plate had electronic sensors built in that constantly scanned her vitals and sent them to the heads up display in her helmet. Any type of puncture or damage to the suit or her body would be instant knowledge to her.

The gauntlets were not as clunky as normal armored gauntlets giving that she needed finger dexterity. Each one had static knuckles for electrified punches, and the end of each finger held a small LED inside. Each hand could become a flashlight should the need arise.

Boots were standard, equipped with magnetic functionality. Only bonus was a small storage of medi gel in each ankle, ready to dispense should one of her feet be harmed. She needed to be mobile at all times.

Her helmet was dark blue with an electronic projection visor, a single strip of sensor nodes across the front of the helmet which gave her vision in five fields. Normal, night vision, infrared, heartbeat sensing and atomic scan. Her audio receptors were flat discs on the side of the helmet, with adjustable intensity. She could hear a dog whistle if she felt like torturing herself.

Her oxygen intake was triple filtered and guarded against all types of poisons and other inhalants that could hamper a persons body. At any time, she could switch it to filter oxygen from water, enabling her to dive if need be.

The best part of the whole set up was the voice modulator. It had played a critical role on so many different occasions, helping her infiltrate and escape, plant false trails, and literally eliminate witnesses. It saw its most recent action on Feros, planting a false trail for Shiala to follow. Thinking that a man was the killer completely shifted the focus of the commando's personal investigation. The Council had told Shepard that the matter had been officially buried, but she knew Shiala; the commando would look into the killing if she could.

Making it as personal as catching her in her naked green glory in the bath was probably not the right thing to do, but for once, she saw an opportunity to have some fun. The Council wasn't happy with her, but she didn't care. They could all go and die in a corner for all she cared.

"We'll be landing in Fang Gorge in five, Shepard. Any idea where you'll be heading?" Draga asked over the comm. Shepard tapped her communicator. "Not really. Find the line of mercs trying to be Corium's bodyguard I guess." She answered truthfully.

"Well, it's you lucky day. It's being broadcast on all frequencies in the vicinity that a competition is being held in a makeshift arena to decide who will guard Caius Corium," She explained, sending a map of the area to Shepard's omni. "Looks like a good number of mercs are already here, but I'm not seeing many LZ's."

Shepard inspected the map closely, mentally noting the surroundings and buildings. Fang Gorge was home to Dezzshaa, a krogan city built underneath the surface of Tuchanka. It was the Tuchankan version of Omega, with many notable krogan, turian, and batarian crimelord's having a presence there.

Draga didn't know it yet, but she was not staying for this mission; once Shepard became Corium's body guard, she would travel everywhere with the turian. When she finally made the kill, she would find her own way back to the Citadel.

With her own intuition, this could take two weeks to a full month to do. Some people thought that assassination was as simple as go in, make the kill, and get out. When killing terrorists or the common man, yeah it was that simple. Not so with politicians. She would need to learn Caius Corium, in and out. Learn his schedule. What time does he get up for breakfast, what does he eat, when does he shit, how long does it take him. She would need to learn about his day to day business. Who he associates with, what dangers does he put himself in. Does he do anything illegal that could...'accidentally' lead to his death and all things in between.

"Draga, when you put this thing down, come back here. We need to talk." Zaia said through the comm. Why things happened this way really sucked. She wasn't up for all this touchy feely shit all the damn time. If Draga was _anything_ other than an asari, she wouldn't stand for it.

The pilot answered her shortly, and silence returned to the comm. Zaia sat there and thought back through the years since the Catalyst. How she had ever survived the explosion at all was a complete mystery. Somehow, she was found by the Council and brought to some top secret lab. From what she was told, she wasn't in complete pieces like when she had been spaced by the Collectors, but still pretty torn up.

Once there, it was essentially another version of the Lazarus Project. The Council rebuilt her, adding yet more cybernetics to her system to replace that which was damaged irreparably. Her liver, for whatever weird reason, was almost completely destroyed and needed replacement. Other than that, most of her muscles had cybernetic fibers holding them together, and her right lung had almost every vein replaced with synthetic veins.

Fast forward to seven years ago. Her hellish service to the Council was already in full swing, and she hated her life. She was on a mission, and someone mentioned Liara T'Soni to her. Zaia lost control and mindlessly murdered fifty six people aboard a carrier in her first amplified Woede attack.

The Council faked an execution for a fake person and hid her away for a few months to examine her behavior. She was the seventh recorded case of Woede Syndrome in the last two hundred years, and according to the salarian chief doctor, the worst ever.

Fast forward again to three years ago. At this point, Zaia was like a zombie. The Council paid her handsomely for each kill, but for years she never knew it. When she finally discovered her bank account, she started to drink. Heavily. The most expensive and high quality liquor she could find. She would kill, come back and drink herself into a several day long stupor until she had to kill again.

Back then, she carried out missions with brutal efficiency, often doing entire missions without saying a word. Not to say that she wasn't brutally efficient anymore, just she gave a bit more emotion now. Everything about her changed when Draga became her pilot. Just being an asari who wasn't a whore or otherwise made things...easier. More bearable. She had been right about Zaia's other pilots: She hated them. Every single one. Didn't care whether they lived or died. She did indeed remember killing one of her pilots. Human guy. Incredibly xenophobic. Hated quarians more than anything in the universe.

They were on a mission on Rannoch, frighteningly close to the construction zone of Geen Pak, one of the new Puradome projects. Zaia's target had been a terrorist hell bent on destroying the domes. She made the kill and went back to the LZ...and the pilot was not there.

For a half hour she waited. And waited. She heard a loud gunshot in the distance and, behold, ten minutes after the pilot ran up. He didn't make it five steps from where Zaia caught sight of him. A superheated Javelin round burst his heart and he was dead before hitting the ground. He made her wait. She hated waiting.

The Fallen Angel came to a stop, the landing gear smoothing sliding into place. Zaia prepared herself, taking a deep breath. Draga would not take this well. The cockpit door slid open and the asari sat down in front of her. "What's up, Z?"

Shepard cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me? Z?" Draga nodded animatedly. "Yeah! I figure that to keep radio chatter to a low, I would call you Z. Shorter and quicker to say."

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever. What's up?" Draga retorted, rolling her eyes. Shepard's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as she stared at the pilots goofy smile. _Anything but an asari..._ Shepard thought as she started to speak.

"This mission will be a long one. I have no clue how long exactly, but my point is...I can't have you along for the rest of the mission."

Draga's smile disappeared faster than a charity jar at a volus run store. Her eyes fell and her shoulders drooped. She looked almost pitiful.

"What do you mean?" She asked, her voice dreary. Shepard kept her eyes hard on the pilots. "I mean that you have to go back to the Citadel. I will contact you when I get back. Go home." Shepard finished, standing up and putting her helmet on. She went to hit the hatch control when Draga's voice cut in through her audio.

"I don't have a home."

Zaia whirled around, and though Draga couldn't see it, her eyes were wide with surprise. "No home? What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, the voice modulator masking the concern in her voice.

Draga shrugged. "Well, being your pilot is technically impossible. I don't get paid to do this."

Zaia ran a quick calculation in her head before holding in a gasp. "You've been my pilot for almost six months. What do you do when we don't have a mission?" She asked, trying her best to keep her voice level.

Draga shrugged again. "Whatever I can. The Angel is my home, really. I scrounge up scraps from various places to eat. Usually only once or twice every few days. My parents think I work as a pilot on a frigate with a decent salary. I won't trouble them with my problems."

Shepard stared long and hard at the pilot. To think that Draga had lived in literal poverty and squalor, just to be her personal pilot and had never once complained spoke to her. This kind of fortitude was admirable, and Shepard felt that, for the first time in almost all her life, she owed someone something.

She reached into a pouch at her belt and took something out, flicking it at the asari. Draga deftly caught it and looked in her hand.

"What is this?" She asked.

"What does it look like?" Shepard retorted, trying to leak some annoyance into her voice while she opened the hatch. Draga held it up to the light.

"It looks like a transmitter." The asari trailed off, her face contorted in confusion.

"Yes, Einstein. It's-"

"Einstein? What's an Einstein?" Draga asked, her eyes still mixed in confusion. Shepard sighed inwardly. "Never mind. There's a lounge on the Zakera Ward called Scythe's. Go there and talk to Mansa, the bartender. Give her that transmitter and remember this phrase: the red scythe cuts deep." She finished, opening the hatch and stepping down onto the rocky ground of Fang Gorge. Down the valley, she could see the huge tunnel openings that lead into Dezzshaa.

"Thanks, Z." Draga called from inside the ship.

"Don't call me that." Shepard grunted as the hatch closed.

* * *

**How did you like it? If anything was unclear, then please let me know and I will explain it to the best of my ability!**


	6. Ghosts in the Shell

**So, it occurred to me that I completely forgot to thank reviewers at the head of my last chapter, so I will do so here! If you reviewed both, I will only be mentioning your name once!**

**Thanks to: HanyouKagome962, K0H, GUEST, Theodur, metaladdict, R19H and istina1286 for your kind reviews!**

**Chapter 6!**

* * *

Dezzshaa was not the trashy backwater that Zaia had expected. With the genophage cured, the krogan population had, as expected, exploded in ten years, and as such they had a lot of hands to do rebuilding work. They had reclaimed and even found brand new worlds to colonize, worlds that were inhabitable for any race other than themselves. While population had gone through such a change, the krogan had not begun a galaxy wide invasion like many thought they would after the cure began to spread.

Urdnot Wrex and his inner circle had done wonders for the krogan people. With the help of Urdnot Bakara, the female clans had been more stably entrenched in cities built specifically for them. While not all the clans were on board with the new way that things were done on Tuchanka, they soon would be. The female clans were under the direct protection, and exclusive access, of Clan Urdnot. If you did not agree with Urdnot, then the female clans would not allow access.

When dissenters tried to pull something like raiding a female clan site, the Jaegars were deployed along with their commander, Urdnot Grunt. Any clan that assaulted a female site was targeted for destruction, and Grunt and his men excelled at just that. Numbering around a hundred strong, the Jaegars were considered to be the toughest, most highly trained, and best armed soldiers on Tuchanka. In some parts of the planet, they were feared, and for good reason. With the new krogan way, either you played along or you were destroyed; the krogan didn't need or accept filth in their ranks.

With this method that maintained some of the old traditions along with new style stability, Tuchanka was almost lawful. Wrex was cruel and tough, but fair. As long as you played along, it didn't matter how he hated you, he'd leave you alone.

That effect seemed to have spread to Dezzshaa a little. Instead of a rubble filled hovel were everyone stood in their own shit, the town was orderly, clean and from the looks of it, guarded. At every doorway was a krogan guard, and all of them wore the same insignia's. From data that she had read, Zaia knew that these guards were part of the criminal ring that was in power at the time. She walked past the checkpoint with little more than a glance from the two krogan standing on either side of it.

Whoever controlled the biggest empire was technically the ruler of Dezzshaa and was responsible for keeping order. That was the stipulation that Wrex had laid in front of the crime lords in order for them to keep breathing. Either they played by his rules, or the Jaegars killed them all.

In terms of finding out where this competition was, it wasn't hard. All over the place there were banners and scribbled signs about a Zande tournament, and the winner would be hired as Caius Coriums personal bodyguard.

Zande was an ancient krogan tradition that was only carried on in the remote parts of Tuchanka and in the crime world. It was one of the purest forms of bloodsport left in the galaxy among the space faring races, and it was also the most brutal.

Competitors in a single round, sometimes numbering in the thousands, were all transported to a massive 'playing field', which more often than not was a giant cavern or blown out building. The whole place would be rigged with camera's so the fights could be broadcast to crime nests and cities such as Illium and Omega. Last man standing was the winner. Anything goes until the end.

You could bring as many weapons as you could carry, and any type of weapon apart from nuclear. Didn't help if the whole arena was blown to shreds. There was one single rule that was upheld with Zande. If you win, you are never allowed to compete again. On top of that, Zande winners were held with the highest esteem in krogan society.

From the look of the insignias worn by the guards, Kimmvo Schlauss, a German born slave-trafficker, was in control of Dezzshaa. Unusual, as mostly krogan crime lords were in control. She had been inside the city for all of ten minutes and had already sighted a good amount of well known mercenaries.

Kazzik Fur, a salarian big game poacher and animal trafficker. He once killed a thresher maw to get the unborn embryo of its offspring and sold it for ten million credits.

Jentius Zerium, a turian, a dangerous and high priced hit man. Best known for killing Ioa T'Veora, a matriarch in command of a famous Serrice demolition squad, at the request of T'Veora's lieutenant. That lieutenant died not a month later by Zaia's own hand.

Very noticeable among the mercs was Urdnot Jotun. A giant even by krogan standards, Jotun stood almost ten feet tall and had been charged with almost every crime in the book, ranging from theft all the way to political murder. He was one of very few Urdnot clansmen that had not accepted Wrex's new style and gone to crime instead.

Zaia walked on through the city, keeping her hands ready at her sides. While it was under guard, Dezzshaa was still a criminal hotbed; someone could try to attack her at any minute. In holsters at her sides were two Carnifex pistols, and strapped to her back was a Raptor sniper rifle.

A much weaker rifle compared to her favorite Javelin, but it had a considerably larger clip and fired semi-automatically. With the amount of people that are going to be running around once the Zande started, she would need the capability to shoot as fast as she could pull the trigger.

She heard a yell coming from a bar on her right. She looked over and saw who it was that yelled to her. Sitting at the counter was none other than Nenin T'Nirra, one of the best thieves in the galaxy. The asari was staring straight at her and waving.

Walking over and stopping a few feet away, Shepard crossed her arms and regarded the thief. "Nenin T'Nirra. Thought killing was against your style." She said gruffly, her gravelly voice drawing stares from the other patrons at the bar.

The asari smiled innocently at her. "Oh Talon, when will you learn. Killing walking paychecks is bad for business. I'm here to do some shopping." She said with a sinister laugh.

Talon. Zaia's merc alias. When on a Council mission, Zaia had needed to become a merc, and thus Talon was born. Using her voice modulator and trademark blue armor, Zaia had made quite a name for herself, several of her Council assassinations being credited to the ruthless killer Talon, whose whereabouts were always unknown.

Having such an alias had proved to be invaluable, as she had many contacts in the galactic underground and crime world. One of which was walking towards them as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.

"Talon! About time you showed up. I was looking for someone to bet on." The volus crime lord said with a laugh. Romla Hen was a powerful information broker, and filthy rich. Rumor said that he had more credits himself than the entire salarian government, but rumors were just that. Rumors.

"Romla." Zaia grunted, not turning to face the fat little leech. He got to be so rich by ripping off anyone he could find. He once stole almost a million credits right from under Urdnot Jotuns nose, but the krogan was too stupid to figure it out so the volus got away with it.

"So...five hundred and eighty competitors, Talon. Think you can win this one?" Romla asked eagerly. Zaia could already see his hands reaching for his credit chit, waiting to bet everything he had on her. The part that sucked is she had no choice but to win. All the losers died. So Romla would win his money.

"Yes, think you got the quads to go up against Jotun?" Rumbled another voice. Zaia turned and saw Otrat Rhakk entering the bar, the krogan's shoulder bared proudly. Rhakk was a middle aged krogan crime lord who controlled a sizable empire. His men specialized in military operations and were in the top five for most expensive mercs to buy, galaxy wide.

A hundred and thirty years ago, a Zande containing twenty-two hundred participants took place on a plateau in Tuchanka's highest mountain was the largest in history, the closest to it being a thousand participants seventy five years back. It was a bloodbath, the whole plateau literally turning into a melee killing spree. Thirty hours of non-stop combat until the Zande was finished and only one life signal remained. That winner was Rhakk, and now he was one of the most respected krogan on Tuchanka. On his shoulder was a tattoo that commemorated his Zande victory.

He was also her number one contact in the galactic underground and, despite being a crime lord, extremely trustworthy. While the law abiding world had it's codes of honor, so did the underworld. Honor among thieves was a real thing.

"I won't be worrying about Jotun. He will be dead long before I will need to start killing." She grunted, nodding slightly at the krogan legend. Rhakk rumbled another laugh as he sat down on a stone stool. "I wouldn't bet on it so easily, Talon. Jotun is a beast." Nenin snickered from her seat, sipping on a glass of liquor.

"Maybe. His size has it's drawback. His regenerative capabilities are stunted, a genetic defect just like his size." Zaia said, her gravelly voice starting to sound normal to her. The first while of using the modulator was always a bit eerie, hearing a different voice than your own coming from you. She would grow comfortable with it in a couple of hours.

"You know a lot about him, Talon. Are you sure that you don't want to marry him instead of killing him?" Romla chuckled venomously. A moment later there was a pistol pressed against the volus' chest.

"I could kill you right now if you would like." She growled threateningly, clicking the safety off on the pistol.

"Put that gun away before you hurt yourself, pup." A voice rumbled in through Zaia's audio. She flicked her head around, pointing the pistol at the door and Urdnot Wrex' chest. She held her aim steadily, watching the krogan chieftain warily.

"Urdnot Wrex. Heard a lot of stories about you." She said slowly. Wrex stomped up to her, bringing his scarred face to touch the barrel of the pistol. He was as fearless as always.

"I've heard plenty about you, Talon." He grunted, sniffing the air around her, apparently trying to get some read on her or something. She never really understood the krogan fascination with smelling everything.

"Then you know what I could do with this," She replied, pushing the barrel into the hard plates of the krogan's head. Wrex laughed, a great bellowing laugh. "I would love for you to show me, weakling." He growled.

"That is not what we are here for, Chieftain." Zaia looked just past Wrex's face at the door, where Urdnot Grunt stood in his tank born glory. To her slight surprise, the front of his armor bore a large tattoo. It had the N7 logo, and below a pair of wings. Below that, it read 'Battlemaster Zaia Shepard'. She shook it off and continued looking around the grooup. On his left stood another krogan, whom she assumed was one of his commandos, but on his right stood a slim but toned asari wearing a tight fitting robe. She had spoken.

"I know, Teva. Rhakk! We have to talk." Wrex replied gruffly. Zaia kept her eyes on this asari. Whoever she was, it seemed that she rolled with both Wrex and Grunt. Interesting.

"Then speak, Chieftain. I am listening." Rhakk rumbled from his seat. Wrex cast quick glances at Zaia, Romla and Nenin before returning his gaze to the other krogan.

"Not with them here."

Rhakk nodded. "Nenin, Romla. Leave." He grunted. Romla scurried out immediately while Nenin slunk out, looking disgruntled. Wrex nodded his head at Zaia, his eyes narrowed on her.

"Why not him?" He asked, his voice low.

Rhakk stood and walked over to stand next to her. "I am endorsing Talon for this Zande. Whatever I hear, so does he." Wrex glared at her for another few moments before scoffing. "Suit yourself. Thought you would like to know about the perimeter. My forces and the Jaegars will be surrounding Dezzshaa for this Zande. Anyone who tries to leave during will be killed. Spread the word."

"I will do that, Chieftain. Anything else you request of me?" Rhakk replied, bowing his head at Wrex. The former bounty hunter grinned maniacally. "Ten hours. The Zande begins at sunrise."

XXX  
Draga sat in the taxi, looking out the window with dull eyes. With Tuchanka being so close to that systems Mass Relay, it had taken her no more than four hours to get back to the Citadel. Now, she was on a taxi that was rocketing towards the Zakera Ward.

She wasn't sure what to make of what Shepard had told her. The tiny transmitter sat in her hand, a little green light flashing at a steady rate, never changing. Zaia had told her to find this lounge called Scythe's. She had looked it up on the extranet as soon as she left Tuchanka and found a good deal of information about it.

Reviews were generally positive. Paid entertainment was available for all races. Drinks were varied and inexpensive, the lounge carrying liquors from all sentient races. From the looks of things, it was just a regular lounge on the Citadel.

What was so important about it though? Shepard had given her this information along with the transmitter after learning that Draga actually didn't have a credit to her name. Why would she send the pilot to a bar?

The taxi stopped right in front of the lounge and let Draga out. Luckily enough, the driver knew her parents and didn't charge her anything for the ride. She waved as he drove away and turned to face the front of the lounge. Soft music played from within, and from what she could see there was no bouncer. Taking a deep breathe, she walked inside.

It was a quiet place, soft piano music playing from speakers all around. Strangely, the music had a really...soothing effect on her. Patrons of all races sat at booths and tables, either minding their own business or speaking quietly to each other. Along the back wall were curtained rooms, obviously for the paid entertainment.

It wasn't a strip club, as there were no dancers, but prostitutes were easy to spot as they walked around or sat at their own tables, only replying to willing patrons as needed. Draga's loins flared as three incredibly blessed asari walked past her in little more than underwear.

She shook her head to bring focus back to her goal. Last thing she needed to be while trying to get things done was horny. She strode over to the bar and sat down, waiting for the bartender, also an asari, to make her way down.

"What can I get you, sweetheart?" The matron said, her voice thick and sexy. Draga swallowed nervously. "Are you Mansa?"

"The one and only, baby." The bartender replied. Draga held the transmitter out to her. "A friend of mine told me to give this to you."

Mansa took the transmitter and looked at it carefully. Draga blinked in surprise as the asari pulled a small data chip out from the bottom of the transmitter, then walked away and disappeared behind a curtain.

She jumped as the soft touch of someones hand on her neck registered in her brain. She turned around and was assaulted as a pair of lips landed on her own. Her eyes recognized one of the underwear toting asari that had walked past earlier.

"You have to relax, babe. You're home now." She said sweetly. Draga almost couldn't help but wrap her arms around the prostitute, grabbing two handfuls of her supple rear. "I'm not sure what you mean by home, but I'm all for relaxing." She replied with a grin.

The prostitute grinned back. "You'll find out soon enough, babe. Now, before Mansa gets back..." She trailed off as she slid her tongue across Draga's neck up to her ear before nibbling on the tender lobe. Draga shuddered in anticipation from the contact, her previously warm center now burning with need.

Sex was something that she had not often been able to indulge in, constantly looking for work. Since becoming Zaia's pilot though, she hasn't been able to do anything at all.

She was about to slip her hand into the prostitutes underwear when another hand clasped her shoulder. "Easy there, lola. We have to take care of some business before you can taste the goods." Draga growled as she looked over her shoulder at the human who had come from behind the curtain. He was shorter than her, but heavily muscled. His right arm and shoulder was tattooed with lattice markings.

"Now?" She asked, frustration clear in her voice. The man nodded and held open the curtain behind the counter, beckoning her to go ahead of him. Draga sighed loudly and started around the counter, slapping the prostitute on the ass as she passed.

"This isn't over." She said with a grin. The other asari smiled and blew her a kiss. "Hurry back then, babe."

Draga was still grinning as she started down the long hallway in front of the human. It was much like the rest of the bar, the whole place tinged by a darkish purple lighting. The hallway was long, doors on both sides and at the end was a giant door with a symbol on it. Two scythes crossed above a galaxy.

When she stopped next to it, the human stepped past her and turned his back to the opening. His eyes were soft and friendly when she met them.

"Alright. Give me your hand." He said, holding out his own.

She simply raised her hand and put it in his, cringing as she did. As she always thought, human men had terrible hands. All rough and calloused. She couldn't imagine how human women, and even some other asari, could stand holding them. It had something to do with all those weights they thought made them more desirable or something.

The man took her hand and took something out of his pocket with his other hand. "This might sting a bit, but its necessary if you're going to be an agent here." He said, about insert the syringe into the top of her hand. Quickly, she batted it away and yanked her hand back.

"I don't even know what this place is apart from a bar! What do you mean agent?" She demanded, her previously calm demeanor completely gone, replaced by defensive alertness.

The man held up his hands apologetically. "The only way you would be admitted back here is to be an agent, so stop playing games an-"

"She's not an agent candidate. Let her in." A voice rumbled from an intercom. The man immediately turned and placed his palm against the door. A second later, several clicks and a pressure release signaled it's opening

The door opened to reveal another lounge, smaller than the first, lit with the same low purple lighting as the rest of the place. Couches sat against the walls, and a large bar decorated one side of the room. In the far left corner of the room was a long table with three lights above it's length. At one end, at the head of the table, sat a very relaxed krogan.

"Thank you. You can take the rest of the day off." He said, his voice startlingly deep and smooth for a krogan. The man thanked him and trotted back down the hall, the door easing shut behind him.

"My apologies for that. I only asked him to retrieve you but did not tell him why. My mistake. It will not happen again. Please take a seat." The krogan said, beckoning to the table. Draga walked silently over and took a seat on his left side, keeping her eyes on his.

To her surprise, he grinned, something very few krogan did when they weren't killing something. "Welcome to Scythe's. What is your name?" He asked. Draga cocked an eyebrow at him, mentally calculating how this krogan, probably a crime lord, could manage to put her in a bad position.

"You don't already know?" She asked suspiciously. It was the M.O of crime lords to know everything about someone before they ever met.

The krogan shook his head. "Of course not, but as a show of good faith, I will tell you about me before you reveal anything," He began before getting up from the table and walking over to the bar. "My name is Hun Stryd, and I am the owner of this Lounge."

Draga took the information in stride. His name was interesting, but his clan name...Hun...she couldn't remember exactly where, but she had heard it before.

"Can I interest you in a drink?" He asked, waving to the bar. Draga thought for a moment. "Have Serrice Ice Brandy?" She asked. The krogan chuckled deeply and dug around on the top shelf of the bar. "Expensive tastes. You must be very wealthy." He commented. As he searched, Draga remained silent. It stayed that way until he spoke again.

"The transmitter that you gave Mansa...how did you get it?" He asked, finally finding a bottle of the wonderful brandy. From underneath the counter, he pulled out a large glass and dropped five ice cubes inside it. A few seconds later, he handed the freezing cold brandy to her and sat back down.

"It was given to me." She said confidently after taking a wonderfully refreshing draw on the liquor. Stryd nodded and lifted a mug of ryncol to his mouth, drinking deeply from it.

"Do you know who gave it to you?" He asked again. His eyes were boring into her own like laser drills. She met his stare with her own. "Does it matter if I do?"

The krogan laughed, a loud rumble coming from within his chest. "Well, yes. You see, when I took the data from the transmitter, I was surprised, and a little worried. I hate killing innocents, but unless you have a hell of a story to tell, I may have to kill you. Who gave you this transmitter?"

Draga, already alarmed by the krogans promise to kill her, did no longer feel confident playing a game of twenty questions with him. "Zaia Shepard. Zaia Shepard gave it to me."

The krogan's stony glare only hardened and his smile from before turned into a snarl. "Zaia Shepard is dead. Trying to convince a krogan that his hero, his _diety_ is still alive is foolish and cruel." He growled. Draga remembered what Shepard had told her before leaving the ship. "The red scythe cuts deep." She said, her voice calm and determined, despite that she was terrified.

Immediately, Stryd's face softened and he leaned back, a grin on his face once more. He lifted the giant mug of ryncol to his mouth and gulped it all down at once. "Well then, welcome home. I'm sorry for the theatrics. Necessary measures." He grunted.

Draga shakily lifted her own glass to her mouth. She was confident most of the time, but sitting a mere foot away from an enraged krogan was not something she wanted to do. Ever. "So...Stryd. What is this place?" She asked, then thought for a moment, "You know, apart from a brothel." She added.

"You are talking about Ryn and her girls, no doubt. They do not work for me." He answered, his smile remaining on his face the whole time. It was a bit unnerving, seeing a krogan smile so much. From her experience, Draga classified most krogan as bloodthirsty juggernauts.

"What about the money that they are paid for "services"?" She asked, still not convinced. While she was still entirely serious about going to have sex with that asari out in the main lounge, prostitution was something she didn't agree with.

"Those girls keep all money they make. As I said before, they do not work for me, nor do I get any piece of what they earn in my lounge. The only thing I do is protect them."

Draga scrunched her face in confusion. "Protect them? From what?"

"From anyone. Do you remember Sha'ira the Consort?" Scythe asked. She nodded quickly. Sha'ira had been famous for many years on both the Citadel and Thessia. Her ability to change peoples entire lives with only words spoke volumes of asari wisdom. She went into retirement after rumors and scandals destroyed her reputation, but returned to help the people during the Reaper War. She was killed when Cerberus invaded the Citadel.

"Ryn, the asari that you are already acquainted with," He said, casting a knowing glance at her. "Formed a group called the Consorts Daughters. They do all the things that Sha'ira did, ranging from comforting words to friendly company to sex. I would not call them prostitutes specifically, because nobody can come in here and demand that one of them service him. They decide who to service, and sometimes drunken or chauvinistic clients do not take well to that and try to force their way to what they want. That's where me and my agents come in." He said, clicking something. To Draga's surprise, the entire table lit up. The entire tabletop was a computer screen.

"Mansa, could you have Ryn come back to see me, please? And tell her to put something on, if you could." Draga couldn't help but pout at those words, and Stryd must have seen it, because he chuckled. "Never mind, Mansa. Just tell her to come back here." He said back into the comm.

After he did, Draga's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she covered her face with her hands, disbelieving that she had just done that. Stryd must think of her like some horny schoolgirl with her first love.

A few minutes of silence followed before Ryn walked into the room. Draga once again felt her loins flare as she saw that Ryn was the same asari that she had been getting friendly with in the lounge.

"You called for me, Stryd?" She said, winking at Draga as she walked by. The krogan smiled at her and beckoned to the bar. "Yes, Ryn, get a drink and come sit. I could use your help here." He said. Ryn nodded her thanks and quickly mixed herself a drink. After putting away the different liquors, she took a seat next to Draga, nonchalantly putting her hand high up on the pilot's thigh.

"What can I help you with?" She asked, her dreamy voice floating in through Draga's ears. Scythe looked pointedly at Draga. "Our friend here fears that you and your girls may be working against their will. Please enlighten her. When you're done, call me." He said, nodding at the two asari before leaving the room. A light click sounded from the door as Stryd locked it.

Immediately, Ryn pulled her up and led her over to a couch, pushing her down before getting on top of her, straddling her lap. Draga leaned in quickly to try and steal a kiss from her, but found herself stopped by a finger.

"Not so fast, honey. See, what Stryd does for us is purely out of the good of his two hearts. When one of my girls says no to some drunken guy, or girl I guess, they sometimes get...angry. Three weeks ago, I had a salarian grab me around the neck. Scythe broke one hand and cut the other one off. Do you see what I mean?" She said, smiling at the asari beneath her. Draga did see what she meant, without a doubt. The Scythe's lounge served not only as a place of entertainment, but a safe haven for these fledgling consorts.

"Where do you live?" She asked, resting her hands on Ryn's hips. The consort nodded her head at the door. "Each of us have homes, but if need be we can sleep here. The other doors down that hallway were built as small apartments and things like that."

"Who were those built for?" Draga asked curiously. Ryn grinned and shook her head.

"Now that I don't know, babe. Stryd is a one of a kind krogan, and one of the best men I will ever know, but even he has his secrets." She said, leaning in and nipping Draga's upper lip. The pilot growled and pulled the consort in, attacking her lips.

* * *

2"Will she be a Scythe?" The human man asked, sitting next to Stryd at the bar in the main lounge. The large krogan lifted a new mug of ryncol to his mouth and took a long drink before answering.

"I cannot say, Captain Vega. I have never seen this asari before. Why Zaia gave her the transmitter is unclear." He answered, his eyes set on the surface of the bar. James Vega, a human who had prior history with Zaia, took a drink from a fresh glass of beer.

"Does she have any military history?" He asked, his own eyes plastered on his boss' head plate. Stryd shook his huge head, humming a negative response. "No. I had Mansa run her image through the databases. Not a single match, even though she looks like a commando." He grunted, tapping his large fingers on the polished wood.

"Another ghost maybe?" Vega ventured. Ghosts, as he called them, were people who were still alive while they were proclaimed dead, exactly like Zaia Shepard. It wouldn't surprise him in the least if the dead spectre found someone like herself.

"Like you? " The krogan chuckled. Vega laughed and shook his head. "Nah, loco. I'm just KIA." He mused.

James had been inaugurated into the N7 program the year after the Battle for Earth, his service under Commander Shepard being his career highlight in the interviews. It was deemed that, because of his service under Zaia, James was already trained to the highest level.

He was given command of a special ops unit and immediately dispatched for duty. He quickly gained the respect of both his team and his superiors, achieving an unprecedented 99.4% success rate. To his glee, that made him a celebrity wherever he went on Earth.

When he went to bars and nightclubs, all he had to do was flash his N7 tattoo and he'd get laid on the spot, and free drinks after. He was riding the skies almost all the time back then. As time began to pass though, his focus started to shift. Being such a military stud, and a real stud, started losing its appeal to him.

He started to notice things that he never had before. Like when he went to bars, he began to notice the poor and homeless sitting on the streets. When he went on missions, he began to notice inconsistencies and undertones with briefings and objectives.

He started to dig into private companies and investigate their transactions. He staked out the homes of the filthy rich and caught several of them making clandestine meetings with company boards and owners.

He discovered that, each year, billions of credits flowed illegally between mega corporations, the private elite and even the military. He made some high profile arrests and in the process made some high profile enemies. After his fourth arrest, N7 command ordered him to stand down on his private investigations and, under threat of court-martial, restricted him to off world missions.

It all came to a head when his team was sent to a remote mining planet, at the request of a mining conglomerate called Stone Creek Industries. N7 command had informed him that terrorists had taken over a mining facility and needed to be removed as soon as possible.

James and his team hit the facility hard, killing almost half of the workers within the first hour. The rest were picked off quickly, even though they tried to fight back. They were miners, not highly trained soldiers.

The last few were huddled in the central data room and operations center, cowering in a small group. At that instant, James should have smelled something funny with this operation. It had been classed as a Code Black mission, complete secrecy, so there was absolutely no media attention to it. Without mercy, James and his men shot the rest of the terrorists dead on the spot.

As he turned to leave, one of his men called him over to a computer terminal. He was looking through security logs and found nothing but normal day to day business going on. James looked through the files and found that this was just a mining outpost. No terrorism at all.

He and his men left and alerted command that the mission was a success. He tried to forget what his technician had found, but it itched the back of his brain like an insect.

Not even six months later, Stone Creek Industries announced a huge stock rise as a result of a new mineral located on that remote mining planet that James and his team had been on. At the direct request of his team, he snapped and contacted an old friend: Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. While he himself had not been all that close to the quarian, his good friend Garrus was _very_ close to her.

He asked Tali to hack into the N7 mission database and find this assignment. She personally came to Earth under the guise of a yearly tribute to the late Commander Shepard and used James' login info to hack the system. When she found the files, she downloaded them to his personal drive and left, saying that she wanted no part of what he was doing with such highly classified files.

He spent the entire day and night scanning through them, and he couldn't believe what he saw. Stone Creek had paid specific people within N7 almost a billion credits to authorize a mission to eliminate a _competitor _within the mining industry. He was even more disgusted that he and his men had killed almost a hundred innocent miners and not stopped forever a second to ask why terrorists were not fighting back.

As soon as he had informed his squad, and let each one look at the files, they began to plan. Over five months, one by one, they faked their deaths during missions, James and his medic Ching going last and faking theirs together. Ching was a young Korean woman who had shown an early flair for first aid and, according to a lot of people at N7 headquarters, there was a pretty huge amount of sexual tension between her and James so it was easy to fake their deaths during a date.

The team of seven met up again on Omega, where they worked as bouncers for Aria in Afterlife. It was a pretty meager time, but James and his team were family, so it was bearable. One afternoon, he broke up a big fight in the club, and afterward was approached by a large krogan who called himself Stryd.

The krogan explained to James that he was founding, with the help of a rich benefactor, a secret paramilitary group to do, as Stryd said it that day, the things that the living world could not do. They met with Aria and soon after James and his six squad mates were once again in the military business, now as mercenary agents, based out of the Scythe's lounge.

"I said that she does not seem to have a _military_ background. I have yet to hear back about a civilian record." Stryd said, bringing James back to reality. The captain shrugged and downed the rest of his beer.

"Alright...by the way, your contact from Thessia is back with information. She's waiting for you in room five." He said, pushing the glass away and walking off. Stryd finished off his ryncol and started towards the curtained hallway, his mind slowly and carefully organizing events and how he would proceed.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Reviews are always appreciated! Enjoy your sunday!**


	7. Zande

**Hey everyone! I'm back with Chapter 7 of Violet Eyes!**

**Some people to thank for reviews: metaladdict, GUEST, Desert Sunrise. K0H and Theodur!**

**News Bulletin: I will be leaving for Mexico on the 17****th****, and on top of that my significant other is going to be here for a visit. I only see her every six months, so writing will not be happening at the pace that it has been, if at all for the duration that she is here. Maybe. **

**Another thing: I have received complaints about the passage of time in my chapters. Each section, Denoted by (XXX), passes time, sometimes a few hours, sometimes one or two days. I will always address how much time has passed in each section, IF it has passed. Some sections are meant to happen at the same time. It will change soon.**

**Also, please be aware that the next few chapters after this one are crash course and there is going to be a good deal of violence and there will be a couple scenes depicting torture. Be aware that it is coming. You have been warned.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The cavern was big, and only lit by huge hives of bio-luminescent insects. Approximately a thousand meters long and almost the same high with around two hundred meters wall to wall, the arena for the Zande was a natural box. It had been two hours since the tournament started, and Zaia was tucked carefully into a small crevice about thirty feet up from the cavern floor.

Below her and across much of the cavern floor lay piles of debris from heavy explosives. Someone who was entered carried nothing except a bomb vest, detonating it as soon as the Zande began. The rest of the combatants, Zaia included, had scattered to escape the falling rocks from the ceiling and walls.

As soon as she could find her bearings, Zaia began to hunt. She was not worried about the run of the mill mercenaries and idiots. She was worried about the career mercs like Kazzik and Jentius, and many more that she might not know of.

To her surprise, Urdnot Jotun had not actually entered the Zande itself. It seemed that the giant krogan had some brains in his head after all. Of course maybe not. Even a stupid krogan would know that Jotun would be killed first and foremost by as many people who could pull a trigger as possible.

To her displeasure, she had not yet identified Kazzik nor Jentius' bodies among the dead. That was bad because she knew that, without a doubt, those two would each have heat sensing scopes on their guns or visors and, while her suit was beyond state of the art, it still emitted heat. On top of that, all three of them would be hunting each other in the darkness.

Muzzle flash still lit up the cavern, but only from one end. The far east end of the place lay dark and silent, a foreboding sign that combat there and been deadly and swift, the survivors moving west to find more people to kill. The area between her and the other side of the cavern had been a killing field, herself and one other shooter killing almost twenty mercs trying to get to the west end of the cave.

A plan had just begun to form a plan on how to identify the other shooter. Whoever they were, the rifle they were using was built for power. Its muzzle flash was huge and the sound vibrated her teeth when it fired.

Based on those facts, she was pretty sure that it was Kazzik Fur, seeing as taking down huge game involved a huge rifle. Also, it made sense that the shooter kept moving, because salarians couldn't stand to be patient. They were a high motor race, so sitting and waiting was not their thing.

This was all good news for her. If it was indeed Kazzik stalking her, then she had a better chance. Jentius was a turian and, like Garrus, turian snipers were legendary for their patience. If it was Zerium, he will sit behind something for days on end waiting for her to come out of hiding. Kazzik was more likely to come looking than Jentius.

As she slowly scanned the area in front of her, a heat signature emerging from around a boulder flared to life. As quickly as she had registered it, her cross hairs were trained in its direction. Judging from general body shape, the person was turian. Possibly Jentius, but highly improbable, seeing how the target staggered and was armed with only a pistol.

She waited as the turian came closer, drawing within a hundred and sixty meters. Normally, that was far too close for her, but he was only wielding a pistol. Couldn't possibly be dangerous. There was no helmet or visor either, meaning no heat sensing.

A hundred and thirty meters. She switched her view to high resolution night vision and zoomed in on the turians face. It was definitely Jentius Zerium, and before thinking she centered the cross hair on his head and pulled the trigger. As soon as the head jerked from the force of the bullet, another shot flashed out.

Zaia felt the sting of a bullet bite into the underside of her trigger arm. Immediately, she dropped down from her ledge, landing into a roll and scooting up to sit against a boulder. Medi-gel released from emergency pods, spreading with a warming sensation over the wound.

"Fuck me..." She mumbled to herself, wincing as the sting of the wound intensified before dropping away. It was a trap set specifically for her, or rather for Talon. It all made sense to her now, all the shared merc kills made by a high powered rifle. The shot that caught her under the arm was from another low powered rifle, much like her own. Jentius had been using a high caliber gun, probably anti-material or higher, and the massive muzzle flash had led someone dangerous directly to him. He was clearly waiting on Talon to come out, but while he was doing that, Kazzik Fur must have surprised him and disarmed him.

Once unarmed and probably injured or poisoned, he was sent out into the open, where Kazzik knew that Talon would not hesitate to take a shot at another high end sniper. He was right, she shot Jentius, and he got her location and put a bullet into her arm. Lucky it was just her arm.

Her visor blinked from red to green, signaling that the medi-gel had finished working, then to blue as she activated the combat interface. Before she moved, her short range sensors pinged the area, searching for any electrical signals. Wherever Kazzik was, it was not within fifty meters of her.

Slowly, she peaked over the crest of the boulder, only to have another bullet ricochet off of it a foot to her left. Kazzik was a hunter, not a sniper, so it was no surprise that he didn't wait for her to fully expose herself before shooting. His game was to keep her off balance, and that meant leasing no ground to her.

Reaching to her belt, she pulled a frag grenade and a flashbang out, arming the flash with a click of her finger. This particular move wasn't of her invention, but came from another assassin whom she had respected immensely. She was all ready to take a few shots to get them out of a jam on Horizon when Thane Krios stopped her and demonstrated this diversion tactic.

She tossed the flashbang over the boulder in the general direction that the bullets were coming from. She waited a moment, then hurled the frag grenade off to the left and readied herself to move. The idea was that both grenades would go off at the same time, distracting the shooter that had them pinned down.

In this case, it might work yet better because of Kazzik's night vision sight. The flash could possibly blind him temporarily. Regardless, as soon as those grenades went off in about another second, she would be sprinting to her right, looking to put some distance between herself and Kazzik's scope.

The grenades went off with a deafening boom, amplified by the huge cavern. Zaia took off low but at a full sprint. Her distraction must have worked as she heard no bullets or gunfire. In a few seconds, she managed to push about fifty meters off of where Kazzik had her pinned down.

She took a moment to catch her breath and get her bearings. The cavern once again went silent, apart from the battle in the western end. She flexed her arm a few times to test its mobility, the wound still terribly painful. The issue with medi-gel fixes on bullet wounds was that the bullet itself remained inside the arm.

Wincing, she lifted her rifle up and poked the scope out from behind the pillar she was hiding by. Carefully, she panned across the darkness were Kazzik was probably hiding. When nothing graced her scope, she turned her attention to the opposite cavern wall. There was a decent possibility that, just like her spot up on the wall, there were other crevices and ledges that a sniper could use.

As she panned, something stood out on a ledge about twenty feet up. It was almost indiscernible, but it was there. A tiny shred of heat stuck up from the ledge, maybe a shoulder or foot. All her instincts told her that taking a shot now was a horrible idea, so she lowered the rifle and cast a glance around the area.

The diversion worked. Kazzik didn't know where she was anymore, owing to the fact that she had not been shot at since moving. She wouldn't take solace in that and get careless though. Before long, Fur would realize that he had been tricked and move. She had to get him before he did so. Much more importantly though was that she now knew where he was hiding.

She quickly dashed between boulders, each time getting closer to the other wall. Her plan now was to get flat against it and force Kazzik to abandon his nest. There was no question: Kazzik was a hunter. A killer. As soon as he realized that she hadn't poked out for more than a few minutes, he would know to look elsewhere.

Stopping for a moment, she pulled up her rifle and eyed the spot where the heat was coming from. Having moved a good thirty more meters, she had a much better view. Kazzik was laying down, his rifle propped onto a rock. She zoomed it and saw the real effects of her grenade distraction.

The salarian had a pair of Elkoss Combine night vision goggles resting on his forehead. Him waiting for her to shoot Jentius made sense now. He hadn't brought any heat sensing gear with him in the Zande, only the night vision gear. When her flashbang went off, it probably fried the sensitive sensors in the usable but cheap goggles. Perfect. He was essentially blind.

Knowing this, she moved more freely, but quietly. Kazzik might be blind, but he wasn't deaf, and things echoed in this cavern. Looking around, she spotted a particularly big piece of debris that was pretty flat. It rose up about seven to ten feet from the ground. She hurried over to it and climbed up, using a pile of smoking bodies to get up.

Once on top, she laid down and rested her rifle on her injured arm, deciding to use it as a steady piece for the shot. As soon as she looked through the scope, Kazzik Fur's heated silhouette radiated like a sun. He must have finally realized that she had escaped him and was looking around.

She settled the cross hairs on the salarians back, just below the base of his neck. Kazzik turned and looked her way. He would never see her on the rock.

XXX

Liara sat patiently in her kitchen, which was miraculously not in splinters, listening to Garrus' account of how her home was partially obliterated and her most precious computer had been destroyed while Shiala sat next to him. Of course, she had those files backed up and stored in several different places, but that wasn't the point.

"So, you and Shiala thought each other intruders in my home, then proceeded to try and kill each other?" Liara asked. Both the turian and the commando nodded glumly, looking every bit like school children being scolded by their teacher.

"Garrus, did it not occur to you that the House T'Soni commando's would not let anyone but family into this estate at night?" Liara asked sweetly. Anyone who knew her would immediately sense the dangerous sarcasm that laced the question. While she was not particularly angry about the destruction that she came home to, Liara was indeed annoyed by it.

"Um...my mind was sort of not clear when this happened..." He managed. Liara rolled her eyes. "Men..." She grumbled and turned her attention back to Shiala. She was not aware that the commando leader was coming back home and had been pleasantly surprised to see her there. Her daughters were also happy to see their green-skinned aunt, but Liara had suspended the pleasant reunion so she could talk about the carnage that was the bottom floor of her estate.

"I'm terribly sorry Mistress. I was unaware that Mr. and Mrs. Vakarian would be visiting, so I assumed that someone had found a way to break into the estate." Shiala said, bowing her head at the head of the T'Soni family. Liara rubbed her temples in frustration. The small vacation with her father and daughters was wonderful, the family getting to spend real quality time with each other for the first time in months.

It had not been in her plans to come home and immediately have to get the house repaired. Regardless, it was nice to have Shiala home, and doubly nice to have Garrus and Tali there as well.

"Did Vasha and Imali enjoy their suspension?" Tali asked, coming back into the kitchen from her room. She was changing out of the dirty apron and putting away her surgical tools and shotgun. After, she made a short trip to see her nieces off to bed before coming downstairs again.

Liara smiled as her daughters faces graced her thoughts. "Yes, they did. I had a nice talk with Vasha about impulsiveness, even though I can't say that what she did was wrong. I want to teach my kids that using force and violence is always a last resort, but what she did was fine in my book." She said, sitting down on a bar stool and pouring herself some Thessian Red, a nice wine.

Tali giggled and stood next to her loving turian, who wrapped an arm around her. "You know, Liara, Shiala told us about your little meeting that you have planned. A bit curious about when you were going to say anything about it." He said, not maliciously, but a little tone of suspicion in his voice.

Liara waved her hand at them. "Oh, soon. I don't know when the meeting is. I was actually going to mention it to you two tomorrow."

"What is it?" Tali asked. Liara pulled up an image on her omni tool, displaying the moon of Menae that orbited Palaven. "I received a very official looking message about building Puradomes on Menae." She said, watching the slowly rotating holo of the moon.

Garrus scratched his beak. "Menae? Was it a turian?" He asked. Liara shook her head.

"Message was anonymous. Whoever it was spoke at length about the Puradomes, then asked me to name a meeting place."

"Did you?" Tali asked.

The scientist nodded. "Oh yes. The meeting place is here at the estate. I also added that the entirety of my commando forces would be present. The messenger agreed and said that they would message me when they are close by."

"Why the secrecy I wonder..." Shiala mused, sipping absently from her drink. Tali seemed just as perplexed, remaining silent. Garrus was not so silent though.

"I know why. Since the dawn of the turian space age, Menae has remained a secretive place that only the military had access to," He said, pulling up a file on his omni. "Most people believed that it was to allow the military to have an easy access outpost for the defense of Palaven, should war break out. Conspiracy theorists said that the Hierarchy was testing new technologies there. In any case, citizens have never been allowed onto Menae. I'm guessing that all the secrecy is because such an idea will have high profile opponents within the government." He finished, Tali immediately agreeing with him.

It did make sense for someone to be secretive like that, and along with Garrus' explanation, was probably smart on the part of the anonymous party. It made Liara feel a bit better that they let her name the location, and that her commando corps would be present.

She also had no doubt that Tali and Garrus would demand to be present at the meeting as well. No matter how it went, no more domes could be built until the Rannoch domes were finished. Dome construction went much faster with the help and resources of the geth, and currently they were tied up with the quarian domes.

The secrecy of Menae was slight news to her. She had seen the moon during the Reaper War and assumed that all citizens had been moved elsewhere to protect them. She had heard before that it was a classified place, but not entirely secret.

"Um...Liara, I really am sorry about the computer and those files..." Garrus said slowly, gauging the scientists reaction. Liara shook her head at him, a smile spreading on her face. "It's quite alright, Garrus. That information is backed up in so many ways and places, even with you. Do you remember that Widow that you used at Olympus Mons?"

The Battle of Olympus Mons took place on Mars, around the time that Liara discovered the Puradome schematics in the volcano archives. When she activated an old lift, it unearthed a tunnel system housing a very nasty race of subterranean insects, much like the rachni only a bit smaller.

Size meant nothing though, as they put up a strong fight against Liara and her retainers. They were forced to retreat, so Liara called in the cavalry. Garrus, Zaeed, Grunt and an asari detachment of about a hundred commando's came to fight under Liara's command. Garrus used a Black Widow rifle that Liara had modified to pick up the electrical signals that the insects emitted.

"Of course. Those buggers had a thing for burrowing. That modded Widow made it really easy to pick off ambushes. Why?"

Liara took a long drink. "Do you still have it?" She asked. He nodded. "Oh yeah. It's in a glass case in my armory on Palaven."

She made like she was looking through the scope on a rifle. "When I modded that scope, I also inserted a memory chip with all those files on it. I did the same with Tali's favorite omni. Grunt has one in his hump armor, next to the medi-gel capsules. Zaeed let me put one in Jessie, his old assault rifle, though I suspect he has since moved it."

Garrus ran through all the names she just listed off. "Are you saying that..."

"Over the past ten years, I've personally made sure that every single person who ever fought alongside Zaia has a memory chip of those files somewhere on them. Some of them know, and some don't. Even Jack has one." Liara finished, a distant look in her eye as she recalled her fight to get Zaia to record audio logs.

At first, Shepard never recorded audio logs. She said that they were unnecessary and foolish. Liara explained to her the importance of logs, for both the present and the future, but for the first few weeks after , Zaia didn't record a single one, much to Liara's disappointment and slight anger. As a scientist, Liara was obsessed with information and organization. Zaia not recording logs put her careful system in jeopardy.

The night after they fought the newly self actualized EDI on the moon of Earth ,Luna, Zaia and Liara had a screaming match over the bullet wounds that Liara sustained from the automated defense bots. Shepard had never wanted Liara to come along anyway, demanding that she stay on the Normandy. The scientist didn't listen and was shot several times.

While Dr. Chakwas was fixing her up, the spectre flew into a rage. It was anger like Liara had never seen before, frightening and explosive. She and Shepard screamed at each other for three hours before Shepard was tranquilized by Garrus and Wrex.

Liara hadn't noticed because of how mad she was, but Shepard had drawn a pistol on her. As soon as she did, Wrex and Garrus stepped in. That was the first time Liara found out about Shepard's Woede Syndrome.

A week later, Liara went looking through the logs one evening and was surprised to find one from Commander Zaia Shepard. She watched it and was surprised to find that it was an apology. The tough, cold spectre stuttered over herself like a young schoolgirl. She had never apologized to anyone before. It was absolutely adorable. Zaia demanded that Liara destroy the log so nobody else ever saw it, and she did. Right after making a personal copy. After that Shepard recorded logs, albeit only on seldom occasions.

"Anyway, I better get some sleep. Going to have to design a whole new ground floor tomorrow." Liara sighed, smirking at Garrus and Shiala as they glanced regretfully at each other. "Good night. Shiala, welcome home." She said, exchanging kisses with the commando leader.

Garrus and Tali said their good nights as Liara left the kitchen. She climbed the stairs that had miraculously survived the onslaught of her friends quickly and headed for her daughters bedrooms.

Easing the door open to the first room, Liara cast a quick glance at her daughters bed. Vasha always slept in one place, her bedsheets never appearing ruffled or disturbed. Her room was impeccably neat and clean.

Closing the door softly, she walked across the hall. Imali, as soft and kind as she was, slept like an angry krogan, tossing, turning and being generally restless in her sleep. Even when she was just a baby Imali had problems sleeping at night because of her restlessness. Now she slept deeper than a petrified log, but her rolling and tossing had not faded.

The two of them were fast asleep, the fun of their vacation tiring them out. Liara was careful to explain to both of them the damage that using violence to solve problems causes. Sometimes, she felt like she babied her daughters with things that were under their age group.

Both of them were incredibly intelligent for their ages, but...they have always been a bit different. While the other girls at their school have started developing hobbies and preferences, such as sports, dancing and even young biotics, her daughters have not. However, her daughters are frequently the top in the class for proficiency testing. Its like they can do anything they want and almost choose not to.

She closed the door, taking refuge in the thought that maybe they will grow into something as they get older.

Further down the hall was the master bedroom of the T'Soni Estate. Liara opened the door and felt the cool tile flooring of her bedroom on her feet. Her dimmed lights turned on, illuminating a huge bed covered in green sheets.

On the left side of the bed on a table was a big picture of her, arm in arm with Zaia on the Citadel. It was taken at the party before the Battle for Earth. Zaia was as grumpy as could be that day because she didn't want to be present, but Liara forced her to go. The scientist told Shepard that she would never be forgiven if she didn't appear, and in a dress. The commander said that she didn't care. Nevertheless, at seven that night, she walked into the party with Liara.

She quickly shed her clothing and donned a knee length silk robe that she slept in. It was deep purple with a lighter purple sash to keep it closed in company. She got into bed and kissed her fingers, brushing them across the picture of Zaia.

"Goodnight, my love." She said before laying her head on the pillow, drifting off to sleep.

XXX

Zaia walked through the cavern, pistol in hand and heat sensing vision active. Killing Kazzik had been her ticket to victory, as no other merc in the Zande had nearly the skill to give her a challenge. She had been shot two more time when frightened mercenaries started shooting blindly into the darkness. Luckily, neither of those penetrated deep enough to be serious. Just painful.

As she suspected, most of the fighting in the west end of the cavern had subsided by the time she got there, of the other fighters having killed each other off. Now it was just a matter of search and destroy. The krogan in Dezzshaa ran a scan for life signs every hour after the twenty four hour mark. Once there is only one life sign, they will send transports to retrieve the winner.

A sound to her right alerted her HUD. Looking over, she saw a mercenary stumbling through the dark, several bullet holes already marking her armor. The asari looked frightened, but very much alive. Zaia fired three shots, two into her neck and one through the head. A quick kill to prevent any pain and suffering.

Walking up to the body, she carefully observed the armor. The insignia was new, something she hadn't seen before. It depicted a sword and a severed head. Strangely macabre for most of the groups she had run into recently. In the aftermath of the Reaper War, brand new merc groups have popped up all over the galaxy.

The Blue Suns were apparently still kicking under new management, but the Eclipse and Blood Pack were dead and gone. Another sound from behind her. She whipped around, sighting a krogan picking through dead bodies. She reached into her belt and pulled out a small frag, rolling it to the krogans feet. She clicked a small transmitter and the frag detonated, sending bits of krogan flying everywhere.

She ducked as a bullet hit the rock next to her, sprinting to a nearby pillar and hiding behind it. A few more shots hit around her in about a ten foot radius. Whoever was shooting was doing so without a solid target. She peeked around and saw another krogan trying desperately to reload a pistol in the darkness.

She activated her tactical cloaking and silently moved from cover to cover. In a few moments, she had circled around to the krogans back. Quietly drawing her omni-blade, she plunged it into the soft tissue under the krogans arm, angled up to sever both his hearts. She rolled the dead krogan over, looking at the insignia on his armor.

It was the same as the asari, a sword and a bodiless head. She would have to take a look into this new group, figure out who was leading it and what type of activities they were getting up to. She needed a name. She made a mental note to investigate around Dezzshaa after the Zande.

She made her way over to the cavern wall and climbed up to a ledge about twenty feet up. Once there, she settled in to watch for any survivors. If any more crossed her path, they would be easy to pick off. She deactivated the outward audio from her helmet, then dialed her omni. The ring only went off twice before someone answered.

"_Talon."_

"Rhakk. How many alive at last check?" She grunted. There was a brief pause before Rhakk spoke again.

"_Four. Last check was fifty-two minutes ago._"

"The rest are dead. Tell them to run another scan." She said before disconnecting. She knew that they would run another scan if Rhakk requested it. A Zande champion had next to unlimited power within the Tuchankan underworld. Not even Schlauss could say no to Rhakk.

Her omni went off a few minutes later with a message. _Congratulations, Talon. Transports are inbound. Head to the LZ at these coordinates._

She input the coordinates to her HUD directional system. "Of course the damn LZ is at the other end of the cavern..." She grumbled as she climbed down from her perch and began the walk over. Not like it was really that far, only a thousand meters, but still. It was unnecessary effort.

Thirty minutes later, a small detachment came through a tunnel into the cavern, meeting her just inside. They escorted her to a group of trucks and drove from the cavern down a subterranean highway. Most of the detachment were krogan, but there were a good amount of humans in there too, Kimmvo Schlauss' men. As the ruling crime lord of Dezzshaa, Schlauss was making millions on this Zande. At the same time, he had the right to be the first person to offer Talon membership of his group. Not that she would be joining.

Freelancers were in high demand right now as the new mercenary groups formed throughout the galaxy and Terminus Systems. As a Zande winner, Talon would be sought after by every single one of them.

At that thought, she recalled the insignia she saw on those last people she killed. The sword and head. Again, she made a mental note to look into it.

Before long she was getting out of the truck to the thunderous applause and roars of approval from most of the criminal population of the city. She paid them no mind as she stomped through the crowd, heading straight for the huge building that was the central command of Dezzshaa.

Getting inside and heading up an elevator, she arrived in a large room with a throne in it. On that throne sat Kimmvo Schlauss, the crime lord in control of the Tuchanka underworld. Next to him stood Otrat Rhakk, her contact in the underworld and the most well known Zande winner in history. Around them stood mercs of various races, most of whom were probably leaders or otherwise.

"So, this is the famous Talon. Congratulations on your victory." Kimmvo said from his throne, a stupid grin on his face. On either side of him hung banners with a boars head with one tusk broken off, the insignia of Sklaven, his group.

"Yes, congratulations Talon. Though we all knew you would be victorious." He said with a snicker. The people all around began to murmur and talk, some pointing fingers and some left the room entirely. Of those who left, a big turian walked out with the sword and severed head insignia on his back. So there were turians, asari...and krogan. All together in one group. Interesting...

"Obviously, you'll be wanting to join Sklaven, so just go talk to Jotun an-"

"No." She grunted, her eyes still facing the door where the turian had left. She was far more intrigued with this new group than she had expected. Something about there being turians, asari and krogan all in one merc group set off a red flag in her head.

"Excuse me?" She heard from behind her. She decided to get this over with as soon as she could so she could investigate. Turning around, she noticed that Kimmvo's face had taken a humorously red tinge to it.

"I'm staying freelance. I want nothing to do with a group." She grunted. As soon as she finished, Rhakk burst out in laughter.

"I told you that Talon would not join Sklaven, fool." He choked out before exploding again into a laughing fit. After a few minutes he stopped. "Talon has been freelance since day one, and he works best alone."

Schlauss looked like he was going to pop. "Who said I'm giving him a choice?" He grated out. After a second, Zaia had drawn a pistol and had it trained on Kimmvo, while her second pistol was centered on the bodyguard that had taken a step forward. "You really want to try and force me?" She grunted threateningly.

Schlauss chuckled in his seat. "And if I was going to try?" He asked. Zaia pulled the trigger quickly, shooting the body guard twice in the head before centering that pistol on Schlauss as well, remaining silent.

The German slave trafficker looked defiant in his throne, smirking at the pistols. "You think you would make it out of the city after killing its ruling crime lord?" He snickered, gazing arrogantly at her.

"You're a human in a krogan crime city. They would thank me." She ground out. Rhakk grinned next to the throne and nodded at her, in total agreement. As they faced off, the door behind her opened and closed again. Before a moment, a turian crossed in front of her.

"Talon, I assume. Pleasure to meet you." The turian said, holding his hand out to her. "Who are you?" She grunted. He took back his hand slowly before crossing them both behind himself. "I am Caius Corium. I have paid Kimmvo handsomely for the right to take his Zande winner as my personal body guard. That is you."

Zaia holstered her pistols and kept her arms at her sides. "So I've heard." She said. "Lead the way."

"Hold on a minute, Talon. Winning a Zande is a big deal. You have to get the tattoo. Its one of a kind, created and only applied here in Dezzshaa."

She thought for a moment before nodding. "Fine. Where must I go?" She answered. Rhakk grinned and clicked a few buttons on his omni. Zaia's omni beeped a moment later with directions.

"Go there. Go alone." He grunted. She nodded and turned to leave, Caius leading her. As they got to the door, Rhakk barked her name again. She turned to him, staying silent. He grinned like a madman.

"Don't worry, Talon." He said. She narrowed her eyes in her helmet at his words. She had just won a Zande. Why would she worry over getting a tattoo?

Ignoring it for the moment, she followed Caius out of the building and to another building. A hotel it looked like, or at least the krogan version of a hotel. Inside a small room with a stone bed he rummaged through a suitcase, finally pulling out a datapad.

"Tell me, Talon. Will you sign a contract?" He asked, showing her the pad. She shook her head. Contracts were always bad news. "I knew what winning the Zande meant. I won't betray you." She said, trying to sound convincing. Playing along as a body guard was not something she was used to doing.

Caius put the pad away and sat down. "I'm sure you wish to go get your tattoo, or whatever you must. I request that we leave as soon as possible. When you find this tattoo artist, ask them how long you will be needed and tell me." He said, forwarding her his omni address. She nodded and left the room, heading for the coordinates Rhakk had sent her.

It was a short walk as only a few minutes later she came upon a small building. It was small, but looked very modern and...new compared to other buildings in Dezzshaa. In front stood no less than ten krogan, all wearing pitch black armor. As she approached, the stopped talking and eyed her warily.

One stepped forward, laughing at his men. "Don't be scared, pups! This is the mighty Talon! He has just won a Zande!" He bellowed. He stood aside, as did his men as she passed, entering the building. Inside, the black walls made the lights yet more ineffective.

At the end of the wide hallway was a large door. She strode forward and entered the room, closing the door behind her. The room was black. Blacker than dark space was.

"Activate you night vision, Talon." An old voice ground out. Doing so, she was surprised to find that the room was furnished, and in the middle was a chair. In it sat a krogan who was simply ancient. She had never seen a krogan old enough to have wrinkles and drooping cheeks.

"I assume that you wonder who I am?" He croaked.

"I do." She answered simply, and she really was. Very little piqued her interest, but so far two things have today. The merc group and now this prehistoric krogan.

"My name is Jorgal Ouvegter. And I am called the Ancient." He said. Zaia couldn't help as a smile spread across her face. "I want you to know, Talon, that everything said and done in this room is your business and mine only. No other living being shall know."

"Suit yourself." She answered, looking around. Apart from Ouvegters chair, there was one more piece of furniture. A table with bindings at each corner It looked more like a torture machine than a table.

"Very good. As a Zande champion, you are going to get the Kampioene Teken, a one of a kind tattoo. You must tell me where you want it." He said. Zaia thought for a moment. It was pitch black, so there would be no way that this krogan would see that she is in fact a woman. It would ruin her entire image as Talon. Regardless, she might have to kill this ancient krogan.

"Neck. Right side." She answered as she began working at the seals to her helmet. The old krogan nodded and stood up, making his way over to the table where he undid the bindings. It was like he knew this room by heart and could navigate it perfectly in the dark.

"The mark is applied biotically. It involves an immense amount of pain, hence the bindings. Please lay down, on your back."

"So you won't be touching me?" She ventured, then swore inwardly. Her voice mod was deactivated when her helmet seals were undone. Quickly, she dropped her helmet and grabbed a pistol, aiming it at...the dark.

"Relax. Nothing that happens in here leaves. You can put the pistol down, Zaia Shepard." She heard the krogans words and her face blanched.

"How do you know it's me?" She snapped into the darkness, her eyes narrowed as she tried to see an outline or anything at all. A single glow began to emit from what looked like the center of the table. Next to it, she saw the looming krogan, the front of his body illuminated. She had to check her gasp when she saw his eyes. Pure white. He was blind.

"Any krogan could recognize you. Your suit made it impossible for your scent to escape before, but you must have unsealed it. Like I said before, nothing leaves this room. Your secret life as Talon is safe." Ouvegter said with as much of a grin as he could muster. "Though I am interested in how you went from the Hero of the Galaxy to the deadliest freelancer in the galaxy. And why. However, that is a story for another time. Lay down on your back." He finished gesturing to the table.

Zaia slowly walked up to the table and laid down on her back. Ouvegter loomed over her like a mountain above a small child as he took her first wrist.

"No binds. I don't play that game." She snapped, ripping her hand away from the old, blind krogan. He nodded. "I understand, but I caution you. The tattoo application is excrutiating. It is for your safety." He said. Zaia eyed him suspiciously.

"You don't talk like a krogan." She stated, staring at the krogan's blank eyes. He laughed, a rocky chuckle deep from his belly.

"I am of clan Jorgal. We are the longest living krogan clan. How old do you think I am, Hero?" He asked as he faded into the darkness once more. A moment later, he returned, having brought his chair with him.

"I will assume from your silence that you have no guess. I will tell you. I was a young bull when Beelo Gurji became the first Spectre." He said with a grin. Zaia quickly did the math in her head. She knew from her time as a spectre that Beelo Gurji was the first spectre, a salarian. But that was in...holy shit. That was in 693 CE!

"So...over 1500 years. Thats why you sound different." She stated. The krogan nodded sagely.

"Yes. Most krogan of my generation died out in the Rebellions or through the genophage. I, however, survived. Now. Prepare yourself, Zaia Shepard.

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**Mysterious old krogan eh? Anyhow, given the high chance that I don't write at all for the next two weeks, I will throw another chapter up Tuesday morning for your enjoyment!**


	8. The Unlikely Pair

**Hey readers! As said before, I am leaving for vacation and won't be writing all that often for the next ten days. As promised, I'll upload this in the hopes that you will be patient with me for the next while!**

**Enjoy, and I will thank reviewers and respond to your reviews when I get a chance!**

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"So you could not get in? Are the T'Soni commandos really that tight knit?" Stryd asked, gulping down more ryncol as he talked with his contact. The matron, a veteran commando, nodded gravely. "No possible way into the commandos without prior referral from a member of House T'Soni, and a test." She answered, swallowing a shot of brandy. She poured another right after and downed it as well.

"Excellent. That mean's that nobody with...less than honorable intentions can get close to the T'Soni's. How did they test you?"

Being part of a commando army for certain houses on Thessia was a confusing and very traditional business. For thousands of years, the asari system had closely resembled the feudal system in an Earth place known as Japan. Houses of prominent or rich asari often had small commando forces, mostly numbering fewer than twenty for a decent sized home.

Powerful and rich asari families could have entire commando armies, numbering in the hundreds. It was allowed, as long as the family could fund their commandos, they were allowed as many as they wished.

Entrance into commando forces for any given house was also different for each. Some houses required a test of biotics or gun play. Some asked for intelligence shows. Some wanted technological genius. House T'Soni, however, was different. It had the smallest commando force for a family that well known, only numbering thirty in total, but those thirty were considered to be the best of the best.

Just to begin, the one training them was the best commando on Thessia. Commander Shiala T'Soni, formally adopted into the T'Soni family by Liara and Aethyta T'Soni five years ago, trained all new recruits, so it was no surprise that the commandos there were so strong and tightly woven together.

"Single combat. Against their youngest girl. Even though I lasted twelve minutes, she whipped my ass, no question about it." The asari grumbled. In all actuality, Stryd did not see losing to a T'Soni commando after a whole twelve minutes as anything bad. It was impressive actually.

"Nothing to be ashamed of. You understand the terms?" Stryd asked. This asari was a talented commando for one of the much smaller houses, but recently had been disowned by her family for a red sand addiction. She was a lost cause, drinking herself into oblivion every night in Purgatory. That was where Ryn had found her. After hearing the girls story, Ryn approached him about recruiting the down and out commando.

He had contacted her, and after some initial hostility, she finally gave in. With the help of Stryd's people, she got clean from red sand and through training with Captain Vega, got to be quite formidable. Someone, who Stryd suspected was Captain Vega as well, let slip to her about the Scythes. She came and asked him about joining, so he explained the terms to her and gave her this mission.

"Yes. An official report will be filed explaining my death to the public." She replied, taking another shot.

Stryd raised an eyebrow. "Are you ready for the Oath? Or have you taken too many shots?" He asked, a smile spreading across his face as the asari nodded and tried to stand up. She could barely climb to her feet, much less recite an oath pledging her life to the Scythes.

She collapsed into her seat, her head flat on the table. "Think about this. If you join, you give up your family and life for a new one. Don't do it because you're down on your luck right now, young one." He said. He got up and left the room, heading back into the main lounge. On his way there, he passed Ryn in the hallway.

"Have one of your girls take that commando to a bed. She's drunk and needs time to think about her life." He said kindly. Ryn nodded and quickly hurried off to find someone to help. Stryd continued on into the main lounge, finding Vega sitting at a booth with some of the humans that he brought with him.

"Captain Vega, I have a job for you." He said, pushing in next to Magnus, a massive man who specialized in demolitions. James leaned back, spreading his arms across the backrest of the booth.

"I'm all ears, loco." He replied.

"Good. I want you and your team to head to the Artemis Tau cluster. I have reason to believe that there is a carrier frigate there that was taken by a merc group called Revenant. Get to the ship and clean out the mercs. You know what to do from there." The krogan finished, opening his omni and sending coordinates to Vega.

The captain checked the coordinates and proceeded to forward them to his pilot. "Alright guys, lets get this done." He said confidently to his squad. Stryd got up and let the humans leave for their mission. The report of the attacked carrier was intercepted heading to the Council from a business mogul called Morlan II. Odd, because the original Morlan was a salarian; Morlan II is a volus.

That little volus ran a corporation nearly as large as Sirta Foundation. He had products in many different aspects of life from food all the way to sex toys and even medical services. Morlan's Face Lift had become incredibly popular among human women on the Citadel.

Taking the place of Vega's team, Stryd ordered a large mug of ryncol as he settled in to think about his plans. Most of every day was spent thinking about his next move. The Scythes did not yet have the power that he wanted. There were only seven Scythes, all the humans that made up Captain Vega's team. He planned to ask that pilot, Draga, to become a Scythe as well and hopefully she would agree. That would make eight...still not enough to run high end work. He would need at least two or three full squads.

If only he could convince Zaia to officially become a Scythe. Someone of her talents could be an entire squad all on her own. The dead spectre had guaranteed that she would never officially join but Stryd wouldn't give up that easily.

Shepard was the very reason that the galaxy continued to draw breath. Someone like that would be invaluable to the Scythes. He just hoped that the people he was recruiting held their faith long enough for his goals to become reality.

A mug of ryncol was placed in front of him and Shepard's pilot, Draga, sat down on the other side of the booth with her own glass of brandy. "Did you enjoy yourself?" He rumbled in amusement, noticing that Draga was more...ragged than she had been when he left her with Ryn.

She grinned at him. "Yes I did...sorry we took up your private lounge for five hours." She said a bit sheepishly. Stryd shook his large head. "No, it's fine. Now that you have that out of the way, do you care to see what Zaia actually gave you?"

Draga choked on her brandy. "Wait, she gave me something?" She spluttered. The krogan nodded his large head and pulled the transmitter out from his pocket. He took the data chip out from the bottom of it and handed it to her. After, he gestured to the table once more as it lit up with a screen.

"Insert the data chip and take a look for yourself." Stryd said, gesturing at the edge of the table, where a small slot was for data chips. Draga slowly pushed the chip into the slot and waited. The table went dark for a moment before lighting up again, a number on it.

Draga stared at it in confusion. After a few moments, she turned her attention back to the krogan. "What is this? Is this one of those human phone numbers or something? No...too few digits..." She asked, staring at the numbers on the table top. Stryd just kept on drinking, waiting for realization to set in.

"Wait..." He grinned into his mug as Draga's voice began to get high. "Are these...these numbers...are these credits!?" She screamed before clapping her hands over her mouth. Luckily enough there weren't that many people in the lounge, and those who did look over soon ignored the asari pilot.

"Stryd! Do you know anything about this?" Draga hissed, her eyes plastered on the screen. Hun chuckled into his mug as he reached into his pocket once more and pulled out a credit chit. He slid it across the table to the pilot.

"Zaia asked me to make that transmitter for her with specific instructions. Whoever brought it back to me was to have access to those funds."

"_Funds_? Stryd, this is a _fortune_. Two million credits!" Draga hissed, her eyes darting around to make sure that nobody was listening in on them. She knew that the crime lords and corporate big shots threw around this kind of money, but to see it in front of her was mind boggling.

"That it is, Draga. That money is yours and yours alone. The only other person who can access it is Shepard herself." Stryd said, lighting up a giant cigar.

Draga stared at the credit chit in her hand. "She can access it too? Is this her personal bank account then?"

Hun shook his large head. "No. This is a special account she set up. I'm not sure why, but those are the facts. I don't know where Shepard is right now, but I know that she will explain herself to you eventually."

Draga slipped the chit into her belt, her eyes locked curiously on Stryd's. "How can you be so sure?" She asked. Stryd tapped a few buttons on the screen, pulling up details about the account. "Shepard made this account eight years ago. Like I said before, I have no idea why, but for reasons that are only known to her, she has given you access to this." He answered, calling for a waiter.

Stryd handed his empty ryncol mug to Mansa when she came up, asking her to bring him another. Draga watched the exchange with interest.

"You know, you don't act anything like the krogan I have met." She observed. Stryd flicked jammed out his cigar, having smoked the entire thing in the span of a few minutes.

"Are all asari extremely talented biotics, Draga?" He asked, accepted a full mug of ryncol with a nod. The pilot didn't even need to think about her answer. "No. Not all."

He grinned. "Well, the same can be said for krogan and temperament. Not all of us are born to be raging warriors, killers and bodyguards and the like. I was always more...intellectual than my brothers and sisters on Tuchanka and that was not smiled upon. I left as soon as I could and spent most of my young years going from bar to lounge to bar. I learned that being...refined made getting things done easier that being a brute. Now...I must ask you about something." He said, clicking more buttons on the table screen. He heard a tone go off and cast a glance at the pilot. She was staring intently at a message that had come in on her omni. That same message appeared on the table. It was from Zaia.

_Stock the Angel with dextro food and drink, then get to Thessia ASAP. LZ at these coordinates._

Before he said anything else, the pilot was on her feet and running for the exit of the lounge. Stryd watched her go and turned off the table screen. Asking her to be a Scythe would happen another time.

XXX

"Johnson, I swear you try to piss me off on purpose!" Jack yelled at the student in front of her. The boy had a confused look on his face as he stared up at her. "Um...but Jack, I did what you wanted me to..." He mumbled.

"I know! All you had to do is what I told you to, and it took you six weeks to figure it out!" She yelled again, sending the rest of the class into fits of laughter. Johnson's face contorted into a sheepish grin as he scratched the back of his neck. "I know..." He muttered.

She leaned into towards him. "Not such a crazy overzealous bitch, am I?" She whispered. The boy's face drained to white. Jack had overhead him say this when she put the class through some heavy barrier workouts a week back.

"Yo-you heard that?" He stuttered. She nodded and gave him a scathing stare. "I did and I don't care. I'll never give up on you kid. Don't you dare give up on me." She said, keeping her eyes on his. His face remained blanched as he walked to the back of the group where mumbling began instantly.

Jack and her newest class of biotic trainees were in a custom made biotic training room on the brand new Grissom Acadamy. Cerberus forced them to evacuate the first station, and the Reapers destroyed it shortly after.

After the Battle for Earth, Jack went through a crazy identity crisis. Shepard had Jack and her students on the frontline for the war, and they rocked the Reapers fucking world. When most of them died, Jack felt like she had changed to be something she couldn't. As soon as the relays were reactivated, she retreated to Illium to start over.

For about six years, Jack went back to being a pirate, bandit, whatever she felt like doing. She robbed banks, hijacked carriers for fun, then gave them back when she got bored. Nothing seemed to stick for her.

Waking up one morning, she was surprised to find a message from Liara T'Soni, Shepard's woman. Liara told Jack that she had finally succeeded in rebuilding Grissom Academy, and she wanted Jack to come and teach just as she had in the first one. She decided to go check it out, seeing as she had really kind of enjoyed herself at the first academy.

She met with Liara at the new station and she was filled in with all the logistics of getting the station rebuilt. Instead of over Elysium, this new station was built in orbit over Horizon. While there, Liara gave her the key to an apartment on Horizon, saying that any instructor would get an all expenses paid home on the planet for the first year of employment along with a regular salary. She was told about who helped out.

The turians contributed nothing which was no surprise really. She always thought the birdy bastards were too uptight about stuff. The salarians gave a bit only in payment to the memory of Shepard and Mordin Solus.

The krogan gave a pretty large sum, considering that as a people they weren't overly rich. The asari contributed handsomely, not only from the government but Liara herself also gave a huge donation.

"Listen up brats! You get off easy today. I happen to know that you have a test in an hour, an-"

"How do you know, Jack?" One of her students called out. Jack grinned at them.

"Professor Lawson and I work together to torture you, that's how. Now, I also know half of you waited until this morning to start studying. Get out of my sight and go study!" She yelled again. Her students cheered and flooded out of the room, most of them on their way to the cafeteria while three would go and study. And those were the perfect score ones who didn't need to study.

She locked up the room and left, heading to the teachers lounge. She had been teaching this newest batch of students for the past ten months, and it has been smooth sailing. Six guys, nine girls and every single one of them was talented, but lazy.

She arrived at the lounge to find it empty, which was just how she liked it. She got along with a few, but she no longer felt the urge to kill every single one of them. The old Jack would have at a moments notice. Now most of them just annoyed her.

Digging in the fridge, she found some food and rum and sat down to enjoy it. Eight years ago, she would consider her current life boring and pathetic, but not anymore. Working with Shepard against the Collectors and then surviving the Reaper War changed her a little bit. What really changed her was the one person she thought she hated most.

When she finally made it down onto Horizon to move into her new place, she ran into none other than Miranda Lawson, who had also been asked to be a professor at the new academy. As soon as they saw each other they started to fight, screaming and yelling in the spaceport. Eventually, they decided to settle their differences in a remote field far away from civilization. They fought for hours, tearing the field apart, leaving massive trenches and craters everywhere. By two hours, the field looked like a battlefield from Earth. By the end of the fourth hour, they were naked and having the angriest, roughest sex that she had ever had.

They discovered that they had been painfully in love with each other from day one when Miranda and Shepard busted her out of the Purgatory. Complete opposites and they fucking loved each other. Not two weeks after that, she and Miranda had gotten into a steady relationship that they kept secret from everyone.

Any time that they were in public, it was easy to concoct some story to make it seem like professional association. Most recently, when they were on Tiber for Oriana's induction as mayor, it was as simple as saying that a highly trained biotic would be good to have on a security detail. Jack didn't particularly care, but Miranda valued her privacy and preferred that they remain under the radar, so they were just two professors to the students. They made up this farce that they worked together to make the students work hard.

"Well Professor, it would appear that you have cut your class short. Again." Said a high pitched, annoying voice. Jack turned a cold glare on the asari that had come inside. Paloma T'Nirra was the newest and maybe the strictest professor at Grissom, apart from Miranda. She was also a class A bitch who hated Jack.

To put on top of that, she had caught the asari giving Miranda _far_ too appreciative looks. Jack never thought that she would be the jealous type, but the first time she caught Paloma practically raping her girlfriend with her eyes, she went and blew apart a room.

"Well holy shit I didn't have a clue. Glad I have you to tell me these things." Jack retorted, turning back to her food.

"I know who we will have to blame when those students fail their graduation tests." The asari scoffed. Jack broke out into laughter, spitting her rum all over the table. "No student I have ever taught has failed graduation exams, Paloma. None. So I think you might be disappointed."

Paloma looked as if she was about to fire off some stupid childish insult when the intercom beeped on. "Professor T'Nirra, please report to Advanced Field test room." It said. Jack cast a hateful glance at the speaker. She used to be the Advanced Field tester until the asari showed up, then magically she got the task. Just as expected, the bitch gave her an arrogant glance. "Seems the best professor is needed. I will see you later, Jack." She sneered, heading for the door.

Before she got there, it opened and in walked Miranda. Immediately, Jack noticed the change in Paloma's attitude.

"Oh my! Professor Lawson, what a pleasure!" She exclaimed jubilantly, her fake attitude veritably sickening. Jack rolled her eyes as she watched the exchange. Miranda smiled at the asari, stepping out of the doorway. "Professor T'Nirra, how are you?" She replied, her genuine smile absolutely perfect on her face. T'Nirra blushed like a stupid schoolgirl. "Much better now that you're here. I simply cannot stand being alone with that tattooed barbarian. It is nice to be with someone so...perfect." She said happily. She might as well have been licking her lips as she undressed Miranda right there with her eyes. Jack cocked an eyebrow, making sure that Miranda noticed.

When Jack first brought up the T'Nirra problem to her lover, Miranda had dismissed it as her seeing things. As time passed, Jack had decided to let Miranda figure out that Paloma wanted nothing more than to get her out of the tight leather suit she always wore. With her giant brain, it shouldn't be that hard.

"I'm glad that you think I am perfect, but I don't think Professor Jack is a barbarian. She is an instructor here, just like you." She said. Paloma turned a disgusted eye on Jack, grimacing at the idea of Jack being on the same level as her.

"Just like you, squid. Now I think you have a class to go and ruin." She snickered. The asari huffed and promptly marched out of the room, nose and head held high in the air. Miranda watched her go before going to dig in the fridge herself.

"You let your students out early again." She said, a clear tone of disappointment in her voice. Jack rolled her eyes at the woman's back, sighing. "Yeah I did. I know they didn't study for your test."

"Jack, you can't cut your class short to make sure they do well in mine. The students are starting to do poorly on the practical application parts of my class." Miranda replied, sitting across from the ex bandit turned teacher. She opened a bottle of water along with a small salad that she had stashed somewhere. At Grissom, Jack was the main practical professor or instructor or whatever. Everything she did was hands on, physical work such as shooting weak warps and shock waves at fields produced by students, or the other way round and shielding herself against practiced attacks.

On the other hand, Miranda taught strictly situational real life knowledge in regards to being a biotic. Her class was all writing, tests and intensive reading. She also taught a few classes on science and technology.

Jack shrugged. "Guess I'm still bugged about that whole fiasco at Tiber." She mumbled quietly, taking a drink from the bottle of rum. Miranda looked at it with concern before pulling up her omni tool. She quickly tapped a few buttons, hacking the only security cam in the room, shutting the audio off.

"Should you be drinking that, love? You still have classes to teach." She said quietly. Even though she hacked the audio on the camera, a tech specialist could still recover the audio if the camera picked it up.

Jack shook her head. "Nothing in a classroom. Only a practical down on the planet in five hours. I'm taking Marcus, Sarah and Becca for warp training." Regardless of that, she still got up and replaced the rum in the fridge.

The old Grissom Academy was in orbit over Elysium but had very little contact with the planet itself. A new feature of Grissom is a regular transport schedule from the station to the planet. Now, all practicals are done on the planet surface to avoid unfortunate tragedy.

"Only three?" Miranda asked in surprise. Usually the practical class sizes are ten or twelve students so they could pair up. This way, Jack would have to work with one of them which was not normal.

"All three are more powerful than normal. Sarah and Marcus are on par with each other, but Becca is another story entirely. Her warps are massive. She doesn't know how to control it yet, so I'm going to work with her."

Miranda nodded and turned her attention back to her food. "Do I need to say it?" She asked. Jack rolled her eyes again. "I'll be fine." She replied. Two and a half years ago, she was doing a training session exactly like this with advanced shockwave students. She miscalculated a students ability and got blown almost a hundred meters, going through no less that four trees. Broke most of her ribs and both legs. Miranda was pissed, and not even at the students. She was pissed at Jack for being careless.

A few other professors came in and started getting coffee, tea and other drinks. Some dug around for food and struck up conversation with both her and Miranda.

"Professor Jack, I have an issue that I think you can help me with." Said another teacher named Pablo. "I had a student today rave about how she was going to kill herself because nobody understands her. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried." He finished, eying her. Jack looked over at him. Pablo Perez was a tall human, just under seven feet tall who had an odd flare for protection biotics.

"Who was it?" She asked in reply. Whenever things like this happened, Jack was the one people went to. She was practically the epitome of someone who was different from everyone else. It only made sense to let her talk to the people who have issues compensating.

"Becca." He answered. Jack smiled. "Perfect. She's due for practicals down on the planet with me in a few hours. I'll talk to her then." She said, getting up and dumping her food wrappers. Pablo thanked her and proceeded to talk to another instructor.

She left the room and headed for her "office" which was really just a classroom that she liked to hangout in. She liked this particular room because she had demanded that there be sound proofing and no cameras. When she did biotic awareness training, it made things easier if students didn't feel watched or distracted by sounds outside. Pulling up her omni, she typed a quick message to Miranda as she walked.

Ten minutes later she sat at the desk in the classroom, scanning the extranet for any interesting news. She read a story about new merc groups springing up. C-Sec and the Spectres apparently had their hands full tracking the new groups. She read about a Zande that had just finished on Tuchanka with the deadly merc Talon winning it.

"Sneaking up on me doesn't work." She said to the room. A moment later, her chair was spun and Miranda plopped down into her lap, pressing a kiss on her cheek. Jack kept reading the story about the Zande, holding up one finger to her lapmate. Once she was done, she turned and kissed Miranda deeply.

"What's up?" Miranda asked. Jack wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, her face plastered on the wall. "Why did the Council dismiss the assassination so fast? They had to have told Oriana, and I know she would have told you." She said. This whole situation had been itching at her conscience since they left the colony.

Miranda's face got serious as she pulled up a message on her omni. "They told her that because Loxx was a member of the Blue Suns and was planning a huge heist that his killing actually helped, so they didn't investigate it."

Jack swore under her breath. The Council was the one thing in the galaxy that never seemed to change. They always stood in the way of truth. Always had these little secrets of theirs. Shepard had never stood for such bullshit from those high and mighty councilors.

Miranda checked the time and got out of Jack's lap, to which she had to try and not be upset about. Miranda's touch was one of the few things that Jack truly, truly enjoyed. "Well, I have to go proctor my test. You be careful at the practical, love. I will see you later on. I doubt I will be here late tonight."

"See you tonight." Jack replied, giving Miranda's ass a hard slap as she turned to walk away. The elder Lawson sister gave her a teasing glance and started to strut, swaying her hips like a stripper. Jack shuddered and took a deep breath. That body drove her insane at night.

* * *

The hours passed by quickly and she was soon in the biotic training field down on Horizon, firing warps at Becca, a nineteen year old biotic who had proven to be one of the strongest at Grissom over the past year.

"Limit the charge on those warps, Becca!" She yelled, rolling away from an out of control warp that blasted away a tree.. The girls biotic ability had come on later than most, and as a result she was having a lot of trouble limiting the raw energy output when she launched any attack.

"How am I supposed to do that? All I do is load up and fire!" She yelled back, stopping the constant flow of warps that the two had been exchanging for the first hour. Jack approached the girl, wincing as she ripped a big splinter from her arm.

"You have to be aware of what you're trying to do. Are you trying to put out a match, or blow up a cruiser?" She said, using her hands to exaggerate the size of things. The trick that Jack had been teaching was to think about what you were shooting at.

"When you fire at something, you need to know what the goal is." She demonstrated by blowing a tree to shreds with a large warp. Then, she snapped only a branch off another tree with a far smaller warp.

"You see, being aware is what enables you to control your power. Don't just fire warps because you can. Know what you are trying to accomplish by doing so. If you are fighting hundreds of krogan, then yeah go ahead and set off the biggest warps you can, but other than that you need to control it." She explained. The girl nodded her head silently, taking in what Jack was saying.

Jack looked around and, spotting what she was looking for, ran over and grabbed a rock about the size of a helmet. "Now. I want you to bust this rock." She said, holding it at arms length to her right side.

Becca looked unsure. "But...Jack, you're still holding it."

"Exactly. I want you to warp this rock and not warp me." Jack said with a grin. Miranda was going to kill her for this, but if it got Becca to think properly it was worth it. Seemingly noticing the increased risk, Marcus and Sarah had stopped their training to come over and watch.

Jack kept her eyes sharp, watching Becca's pose and shoulders carefully. If her plan worked out, then Becca would be too worried about hurting her and concentrate enough to limit her charge. If it didn't work out...then a hospital bed and Miranda being upset was in her future.

The beads of sweat dripped down Becca's forehead as she tried to focus on the rock. Silently, Jack pleaded with her to get this right. Less because of the legitimate chance for injury, but more so because she wanted the girl to succeed.

The girls hand flicked up and a small warp formed. Jack grinned as she saw that it was definitely small enough to do minimal damage. The control was perfect. Becca fired the warp, keeping herself focused to maintain the energy control. The warp hit the rock, breaking it into pieces and leaving Jack unscathed.

"Good job, Becca! That's what I'm talking about!" She yelled. Becca grinned and wiped the sweat from her brow. Marcus and Sarah cheered from where they were, yelling words of encouragement to their classmate. Jack found another rock, around the same size and held it up.

"Again!"

Once again, Becca maintained her control perfectly and busted the rock. Her grin only got wider as she probably started to see how easy it was to keep control. Jack decided to step things up a notch. She picked a much smaller rock, about the size of her hand.

"Alright Becca. Test time. Do the same thing to this rock." Her students face hardened in concentration. Marcus and Sarah, who had previously started to go over to their friend backed off after Jack shooed them. She didn't want them accidentally breaking her concentration.

"This is no different to the others, Becca. The same thing; think about what your goal is!" The girl nodded and stared holes through the stone in Jack's hand. The warp formed in her hand and she fired it.

The warp zoomed through the air, quickly coming within ten meters of Jack and the rock when the worst happened. Jack watched in slow motion as the strain broke through Becca's focus. The warp tripled in size over 5 meters, exploding on contact.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you all in a weeks time! Viva la M****éxico!**

**P.S: Look forward to the next chapter, because things are going to get intense. Also, I warn you now. The next two chapters will have a few scenes depicting torture. If it makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry, but it was necessary. In no way do I advocate the practice of torture. It is just part of the story.**


	9. Shooter of House T'Soni

**Why hello readers, I am back! My vacation was fun, but now its time to get back to writing!**

**I'm happy that you have all been patient with me, and I present to you Chapter 9. I will alleviate some of your concerns by telling you this: This chapter begins a free-fall straight to reunification. **

**BE WARNED!**

**Scenes of torture are depicted within, and in the next chapter, but that is all. I tried to keep them brief, but they are there. I am sorry if you do not like, there will be no more.**

* * *

_Fucking old krogan._ Zaia thought to herself as she sat on the transport next to Caius. Her neck still felt like it was on fire from the application of the Kampioene Teken as Ouvegter had called it. He said it translated into the Mark of Champions. Putting the damn thing on took less than an hour, but holy shit did it hurt. When the biotic field first touched her neck, it felt more like a rusty saw blade.

As soon as she left, she dialed up the medi-gel and to her unpleasant surprise, it did nothing to ease the pain. For the past first few hours, it felt like a kakliosaur was trying to force its way out of her throat. Since then, it had duller to a fiery throb.

She had made her way back to Caius and spent two days killing time on Tuchanka. She conducted a search of Dezzshaa and found that the new merc group went by the name of Revenant. In that time, Zaia had gotten just three hours of sleep. On the third day since she won the Zande, they boarded a transport for Thessia, heading to some meeting that Caius was supposed to attend. He had not filled her in on details yet, but she wasn't to concerned with that. She was concerned with not killing someone because her neck hurt so much.

She had sent a message to Draga once Caius had told her that he had no form of transport to quickly move from place to place. She said that she did, and he was fine with using her pilot.

Discovering that their meeting was supposed to be on Thessia was a shock for her. Being on the asari home world would really test her patience. Huuru gave her full autonomy, but was it really a good idea to sneak off? Knowing Sparatus, he would find any reason to void their agreement to his benefit, especially if he found out that she had gone to the T'Soni estate. She could safely assume that he would have agents there who reported to him.

No. She couldn't. She would never put the safety of Liara and her daughters at risk. Sparatus was out of his mind, and she couldn't be sure that he wouldn't do something drastic.

Sparatus had a death grip on her because of some information that he somehow acquired. Sparatus found out about Shepard and Liara killing Tela Vasir on Illium. He told Shepard this and threatened to have Liara _and_ their newborn twin daughters executed for the murder of a Spectre. When she told him he was full of shit, he pulled his ace: the Council had held a vote and voted that unless Shepard stay "dead" and be their assassin, Liara and her daughters would be executed. From then on, Zaia had been the Councils personal attack dog.

However, to say that she just rolled over and let the Council have their way, she struck a deal. Should any harm or danger ever come to Liara or her daughters, the Council would have to overturn their decision. That vote passed three votes to two, so Shepard was sure that no harm would ever come to her family. If it did, she would personally murder the entire council.

"Talon." She looked up and saw Caius standing in front of her, his arms clasped behind his back, which she had noticed was his relaxed position in regular life. She nodded at him, not really feeling much like talking.

"How is it that you plan to keep me safe?" He asked. _Damn it._ She thought angrily. He was making her talk. "Nobody gets near you. Period." She replied shortly, trying to keep her voice low. Talking too loud hurt like a son of a bitch.

"And if I need to speak to somebody privately?" He asked, looking at her expectantly. She raised her head to look at him, closely observing his facial expression. This was a test.

"Not a chance. Only places you are alone is the bathroom. Other than that, I will always be with you." She answered, wincing as he throat pulsed with pain. The turian nodded before sitting down across from her.

"And if I want to be alone?"

"I don't care." She replied, silently wishing that this stupid turian would shut the fuck up so she wouldn't have to keep talking. To her distinct chagrin, that was not the case.

"Good. That's exactly what I am paying you for. Now, this meeting on Thessia is with someone who can help the turian people." He said, folding his hands in his lap.

"Fine." She grunted. She didn't care what he was meeting about on Thessia. All she had to hear was that he was trying to undermine the Hierarchy and she would put a bullet between his eyes. Finally, the turian seemed to get the message and he shut his infuriating beak. Her omni buzzed with a message.

_Update. _It was Councilor Huuru who had messaged her. Her fingers began to fly over the omni. _Headed to Thessia for meeting. Purpose unknown._ She sent the message off and waited a moment. She knew that Huuru, being a salarian would reply fast.

_Any evidence of treason against Hierarchy?_

_None. Will report in once new information is available._ She typed. This was certainly new. None of the councilor's ever asked her for mission updates, not even Cooper or Huuru before. This was completely new. Interesting. Something about this mission smelled different, and not only because she had been given full autonomy for the first time.

She was looking at the ground when a she noticed shadows that had come all around her. Looking up, she came face to face with the turian that had been in the throne room at Dezzshaa. The turian that had the severed head insignia of his armor. Around him stood five more mercs consisting of three asari, a turian and a human.

Her eyes quickly flashed to the seat across from her. Caius was not there, but she did notice him sitting a few seats down, minding his own business. Good. She kept silent, waiting to see if the mercs would announce their reason for being there. They did.

"Ah, the famous Talon. Winner of this latest Zande." The turian started, a smug smile on his face. "I saw that you said no to joining up with Kimmvo Schlauss. Dangerous."

She didn't move. "Not concerned." She grunted, wincing again as pain lanced from her neck. The turian took a seat next to her and casually threw an arm over her shoulder. She had to resist shoving her omni blade through his cocky face.

"Well that' fine. We'll be glad to welcome you into Revenant." He laughed, beckoning one of his guards over and taking an omni pad from her. He held it over to her, a contract open on it.

"No." She grunted again. She was really not in the mood for this, and it didn't look like the turian was going to get it. He slowly withdrew the pad and tsked. "You see, Talon, you don't have a choice. Either you join, or my men kill y-"

Before he finished, she fired up from her chair, ramming her right hand omni blade through the chest of the turian guard. With her left hand, she drew a pistol and shot the human while he reached for his shotgun. Using her omni blade, she pulled the dead turian around and used him as a shield as she rushed the three asari, bullets pounding into the body. Throwing the body into one of them, she quickly disarmed another and broke her neck.

Whipping around, she caught the arm of another and broke it before cutting her throat with the omni. She stepped over the dead turian, shooting the asari underneath him in the head with her Carnifex before hovering it an inch away from the turians face. He hadn't moved from his seat, either from shock or he was too frightened to. His face was one of distinct fear.

"Not. Interested." She growled. The turian nodded nervously and tried to stand up. Seeing her chance, Shepard pushed him back into his seat.

"Revenant. Who leads it?" She demanded. The turian clamped his beak shut, his eyes set in defiance. If her neck didn't feel like it had been run through a dreadnoughts exhaust fans, she might have smiled. She reached into her belt and pulled out a serrated knife, running it along his armor. She reached his leg and drove the first inch of the blade in.

The turian went to pull her hand away, so she cracked the pistol across his face, knocking him back into the seat. "Revenant. Who's in charge?" She demanded again. The turian spit on her helmet, snarling at her. She drove another inch of the blade into the turians leg, then turned it, the serrations tearing apart the inside of the leg.

"Answer me, turian." She growled. Other passengers who had heard the commotion were starting to come over, and mumbling began. A movement to her left caught her attention. Looking over, she saw that Caius had gotten out of his chair and was heading over to the audience that had gathered.

She drove the knife all the way to the hilt, drawing an anguished cry from the turian. He was no soldier. Chances are he was probably a desk jockey who got tired of the daily grind and took advantage of the new merc gangs taking just about anyone. How he managed to get into a command position would remain a mystery.

"Who is in charge?" She demanded one last time, twisting the knife viciously.

"Perin T'Nirra! Perin T'Nirra!" He cried. _T'Nirra?_ She thought curiously. She didn't know that Nenin had a sister...interesting. Nenin was one of the best thieves in the galaxy, and her sister was the leader of the new merc gang by the name of Revenant.

She ripped the knife out of the turians leg. "Leave." She ordered, standing aside. As fast as his he could, the turian hobbled away. She wasn't worries about him squealing to anyone about anything. He would have to go back to Perin, and he would be going back alone. If she was anything like Nenin, she would kill him for giving her name out.

She sat back down and saw that the audience she had gathered was dispersing. Caius returned to sit next to her. "What did you tell them?" She asked.

"I said that it was Hierarchy business. That being said, what was it actually?"

"Mercenary business." She grunted. He seemed to accept her answer because he said nothing more. She leaned back and rested her head against the hull, grimacing as her neck had increased to a raging throb. If she ever saw Ouvegter again, she would give him a thrashing for not warning her about this.

It took only a few more hours to reach asari space. In that time, Shepard's neck only throbbed harder, whittling away her patience and making the trip difficult. The descent into Thessia was easy and quick. Once they arrived at the spaceport, Caius rented a skycar and they took off. She had not been paying attention to her surroundings, but began to take notice when things began to look familiar.

She felt like she had seen pictures of this place they were flying through before. The buildings all had a very natural look to their architecture, almost like they were flowing from the landscape. The city buildings gave way to breathtaking landscape, a huge lake stretched out into the horizon. As they flew, she noticed a lavish estate poking out from the forests.

_Oh. Fuck._ She thought. They were heading to the T'Soni Estate.

XXX

"Pity that Shiala was called away." Garrus commented to Tali as they prepared for this meeting. Despite that the T'Soni commandos would be present, Garrus and Tali both decided to be armed and ready for combat. Seeing as Tali forbade him from bringing weapons to the estate, he had to go looking through the commando armory to find some.

He was still bitter about it, considering that she had brought her shotgun and pistol, and he took every chance to point out that she had lied to him about not wanting weapons near their nieces. The armory had a nice sniper rifle, an assault rifle and a pistol. It took him mere minutes to mod them to his specifications. The T'Soni commandos had some of the best equipment he had ever worked with and it made things very easy.

"Yes. Apparently Oriana and Miranda called her to work on something. I think they are trying to go after the killer from Tiber. Now that Shiala has an image, it will no doubt help." Tali replied, finished her suit check. The image that they had pulled from the data pad was mostly dark due to the apartment lights being off. The light from the pad illuminated only one feature: strands of straight red hair.

"Hopefully they find him. A guy that skilled in killing could be a horrible thing for the galaxy." Garrus said, strapping the sniper rifle to his back.

"I'm sure they will locate him just fine, Garrus." Liara said, entering the living room, her two daughters in tow. Vasha and Imali both wore green dresses, and each dress had the N7 patch stitched into the arm. It was Garrus' idea to have the dresses done that way, showing that whoever was coming to this meeting was dealing with a family that took no shit.

"Well, the two youngest T'Soni's are ready for the occasion." Tali crooned, coming over to the two girls. They smiled at her, but their smiles were not entirely genuine. This was not something that they would normally be exposed to so chances are that they were decently nervous. They would be safe though, surrounded by Garrus, Tali, Aethyta the commando corps and most of all: Liara.

Together, the group walked out to a large terraced courtyard ringed by trees. When they arrived, the commandos were already there, being directed by Aethyta in Shiala's absence. The commander had wanted to stay even though Oriana Lawson contacted her, but Liara and her father assured her that they would be fine.

"How are we doing, father?" Liara asked as the approached her. Aethyta gave them a satisfied smile. "In position. We'll have most of the corps here in the courtyard with us and on that terrace. I also have a surprise if this mystery person tries anything funny." The Matriarch replied, grinning as Garrus cast a glance into the trees.

"Find them?" She asked, giving him a few moments. He shook his head, whistling. She grinned at him. "Good, cause I don't know where they are. I really don't even know how many." She laughed. Garrus rolled his eyes at the Matriarchs antics.

As they stood around, a commando came running out of the trees. "Mistress Liara! Mistress Aethyta! A skycar just entered the perimeter. We have commandos directing them here." She panted, pointing in the direction of the Armali spaceport.

"Thank you, Kira. Take position." Aethyta said. Liara stood next to her father with her daughters in front of them. Garrus and Tali stood on either side of them, Garrus having his sniper rifle resting on his shoulder while Tali had her shotgun in her hands. The commandos stood behind them in various spots, all having drawn weapons. Na'lara, the biotic specialist of the commandos, stood with her hands at her sides, ready to unload powerful biotics at a moments notice.

As expected, a skycar emerged over the trees and set down about twenty meters away from them. It opened, and out stepped a turian and what looked like a bodyguard. A single bodyguard who wore deep blue armor with green tendrils across it. It didn't look like a solid suit, more like metal stitched into an under suit. On the bodyguards back was a Raptor sniper rifle, and at his sides were two Carnifex pistols.

"Talon..." Garrus mumbled, his eyes hard. Liara cast a glance at him. "Talon? Do you know that bodyguard?"

Garrus shook his head slightly. "Not a bodyguard. A mercenary. He's apparently to blame for a couple of murders over the past few years, but that's just rumor. No concrete evidence has ever come up, but his armor is well known. He's insanely dangerous." He replied.

The turian began to walk forward, but Aethyta held her hand out to him. "Close enough. What's you name?" She said, her voice changing to a hard, authoritative tone.

He clasped his hands behind his back and bowed deeply. "Caius Corium, at your service, Matriarch Aethyta T'Soni. A pleasure to meet you." He called. Liara waved down the commandos who had pointed their weapons at the turian.

Once again, he began to step forward, but this time his bodyguard stopped him and walked to the middle of the courtyard. "Snipers in the trees. Three. Get them out." He demanded, his helmet facing Aethyta.

The Matriarch put a clueless face one. "Snipers? Why would I ever post sni-" Before she finished, Talon drew one of his pistols and fired two shots into a tree that hung over the left side of the clearing, over a fountain. A scream came from the tree and a T'Soni commando fell into the pool, bleeding from a single bullet wound in the arm.

Seconds later, five commandos rushed the mercenary. Aethyta had specifically instructed them to avoid shooting unless absolutely necessary. The first of the commandos reached Talon, throwing a biotic punch at the mercs head. He dodged her punch and fired two of his own into the commandos midsection, and the sound of cracked ribs echoed out.

The second and third got there at the same time, throwing kicks high and low. Talon blocked the top kick but was knocked off balance by the bottom one. As he fell, he stuck one hand out and flipped off it. Once he landed, he kicked one of the commandos in the back of the head before catching a punch and ramming his forearm into the others face, knocking both out.

"Enough!" A scream echoed across the courtyard. Liara stood, her hands flaring with biotics as she glared at Talon. With a wave, more commandos rushed forward and gathered up their incapacitated comrades. Two more retrieved their sister from the pool, bringing her away to be attended to.

"Father, get any other snipers out of the trees. Them being there isn't going to help." She growled. Aethyta quickly complied, tapping her headset and muttering orders into it. Talon was staring at her intently, seemingly interested in her control over the situation.

"Talon, please refrain from shooting at my commandos." She said, struggling to maintain her calm composure. Talon watched her silently, not answering her in any way. She wanted nothing more than to let her commandos kill him and be done with it, but that would not help either.

"Mr. Corium, I believe you wanted to talk about building Puradomes." She said. The turian nodded and approached her, this time without being stopped. Once he passed Talon, the mercenary fell into step behind him.

Once he had come within a few feet, Liara motioned to the group behind her. "Caius, this is Garrus Vakarian and his fiancèe, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy and these are my daughters, Vasha and Imali." She said. In response, the turian bowed deeply.

"A pleasure, despite the start to this meeting." He began graciously. "I'm sorry for my message. I had to be vague; there are elements within the Hierarchy that would disagree...violently, with my ideas." He said, casting a glance at Garrus

The turian shrugged. "I'm not opposed to Puradomes on Menae, Caius. Don't need to worry about me squealing, though I'm not sure how you're going to get the Hierarchy to give the OK." He said lightly.

"Why did you want this secret meeting, Caius? Meeting with me I understand, but what do you hope to achieve here?" Liara asked. Caius pulled a data chip form his pocket and handed it to her.

"On that chip are planned locations for the domes, and I wanted to give you that so you could evaluate their placement. Admittedly, getting permission from the Hierarchy is going to take time, but I have a peaceful solution." He said.

"Peaceful solution? What does that mean?" Garrus asked, his eyes shining with curiosity. Caius looked over at him, his face calm. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors, Garrus. Someone started this idea that I plan to overthrow the current Hierarchy in a bloody coup."

Garrus nodded. "I have heard that, but dismissed it as a stupid rumor."

"Well, only the bloody coup part is rumor. I have a way to get more...tempered heads elected into the government. I'm sure you know the group Morte Fiero?" Garrus nodded. "Well, I have recently won their support for the next elections and, barring a rigged election, I should win the position of Primarch over Titus Lineum."

Garrus held a talon up to him. "Titus Lineum...isn't that..."

"Councilor Sparatus' nephew, yes. You can see why I need to be secret." Caius said, closing his eyes and sighing. Garrus clapped a hand to his face, his own sigh escaping.

"What does that mean?" Tali asked, coming to stand next to Garrus, a hand on his shoulder. Garrus pulled her against him. "Sparatus is obsessed with power, and putting out his nephew from the position of Primarch will undoubtedly put Caius' li-"

As they spoke, Talon rushed forward towards Imali. Before anyone could stop him, he dove in front of her and something ricocheted off his armor. Immediately Liara, Garrus, Caius, Tali, Aethyta and Na'lara surrounded her daughters while Na'lara generated a biotic field around them. Talon sprinted into the trees and soon the sound of gunfire rang out.

Liara knelt down next to her girls. "Are you girls alright?" She asked, her voice high and shaky. They both nodded furiously. "We're fine, mom!" They answered in unison, their eyes wide and almost excited. She accepted their answer and stood up, facing Caius.

"You don't have to protect them." She said. He shook his head furiously.

"Nonsense! Just because I'm not part of your family doesn't mean I'm a pirate! Shooting at children is dishonorable and pathetic!" He said sternly, typing a message on his omni. "I just sent a message to Talon. He will find the shooter and bring him or her back to you."

"Alive, I hope." Aethyta growled, giving orders to her commandos to search the grounds. Caius watched her do that and touched her shoulder in warning. "Tell you troops to be careful, Matriarch. Talon prefers to work alone. He won't hesitate to shoot one of your commandos if they get in the way."

"If he's so good at his job, tell him to keep his fu...damn eyes open." She grunted., stopping before she swore in front of her granddaughters. Caius complied and sent another quick message to Talon. A moment later, his omni buzzed.  
"What did he say?" Liara asked, worry in her eyes. "He said that won't be an issue. Shooter is...well that's strange..."

"What's strange?" Tali asked, her eyes searching the trees as gunfire continued in the distance. Caius scratched his chin. "He said that the shooter is a drell." Caius said slowly. Liara's eyes widened in surprise. A drell on Thessia?

"Perfect. I'll contact the High Council and get information on any drell who have come to Thessia in the last six months." Na'lara said confidently, typing a message on her omni.

"I just ordered the commandos to be on the lookout for a drell. Lets head inside, Liara." Aethyta said, heading towards the estate.

XXX

"How long has it been?" Liara asked again, sitting on the couch. On either side of her, Vasha and Imali were sound asleep. It was the late now, the plane thaving been plunged into nightfall. They had only heard from the commandos who had returned an hour ago. Garrus checked the holo clock on the wall. "Five hours."

The commandos had told them that the last they saw, Talon was still pursuing the drell into the forests. They turned back once they reached the edge of the T'Soni estate, seeing as they had no jurisdiction outside of the grounds. To make matters worse, Caius had received no messages from his bodyguard since he told them it was a drell who shot at Imali.

When they had gotten inside, Liara first went to see the commandos that had been injured. The two who had been knocked out were stable and recovering. The one that they thought may have broken ribs was in fact alright apart from a bruised stomach. They sounds that they thought was cracking bone was actually Talon's gauntlet clanging off her shotgun. The one that he had shot was not seriously hurt. Either by dumb luck or extreme accuracy, the bullet had only grazed the commandos bicep.

"You know, Caius, if you had arrived ten minutes later, I would have guessed that you were responsible for this." Garrus began. Caius opened his mouth to protest, but Garrus kept talking. "However, if you were here ten minutes later, Imali would be dead. I guess from that standpoint, we are in your debt."

"We are in debt to Talon, Garrus. Despite him harming my commandos, he is the one who deflected the bullet and is chasing the attacker." Liara said softly, stroking Imali's crests.

Aethyta downed another glass of brandy and coughed as she tried to drink it too fast. The attack had her really shook her and she had been drinking like a fish since they came in. "He better bring me that drell!" She yelled.

Under her hands, Liara felt her daughters move, the two of them waking up from the sound of their grandfather yelling. "Mom...what's happening?" Vasha mumbled tiredly. Imali also stirred and woke up, rubbing her eyes.

"Nothing dear. Come on, let's get you two to bed." Liara said softly, kissing her daughters on their crests. The girls offered no resistance as Liara and Garrus picked them up and brought them upstairs.

"Put them in my room, I would rather have them together tonight." She said quietly. Garrus nodded silently and followed her to the big master bedroom. They laid the girls down in the bed and pulled the covers over them. Liara fought to keep her tears back as the two girls instinctively cuddled up to each other in the huge bed.

"Is this room secure, Liara? I mean, you do have a big balcony right there." He said, pointing at the large glass doors on one side of the room. Liara nodded in understanding.

"Glyph." She said, waiting patiently.

"Yes, Dr. T'Soni?" Said the drone, emerging from nowhere. "Lock those doors electronically and firewall them. If anyone tries to get in, alert me immediately."

"Yes, Dr. T'Soni. Should I allow Talon in if he tries?" Glyph asked, hovering by the doors. Liara found herself unsure of how to answer that question. The mercenary was just that, a mercenary. He had shot at her commandos and even knocked two of them out, but he did save her daughter. Now he was chasing her attacker.

"Yes. Please tell me if he comes here." She commanded before leaving the room with Garrus in tow. She was still unsure if it was the right decision, but as far as she knew, Talon didn't mean her family harm.

"Something on your mind, Liara?" Garrus asked as they walked through the halls. Liara massaged her temples as a tear came to her eye.

"It's just...I feel like this is my fault. That I put my daughters in harms way. If only...If only Zaia were here. She would know what to do." She choked out, managing to keep back most of her tears. Garrus nodded in understanding.

"Liara, how could you have known that a drell would come looking to shoot one of your daughters?" Garrus asked, stopping her in the hallway. "Who could have guessed that it would happen while the entire commando corps, plus Aethyta, Tali and I were present?"

She stared at the ground. "Nobody...I guess." She mumbled. She was glad that it was only Garrus here and that her daughters couldn't see her insecurity. She was unsure, every day, if what she was doing was right. If she was raising her children properly.

"That's right. Nobody. Not even Zaia could have known that it would happen. Don't worry. Whether Talon brings back the drell or not, we'll find out who started this." He said confidently, placing comforting hands on her shoulders and pulling her into a hug.

XXX

"Since when did the famous Talon become a henchman?" The drell laughed, spitting out blood. Zaia's body shook in her fury. After a ten hour chase, she finally caught him attempting to cross a field. Shot him in both knees, making running anywhere impossible. Now she had him up against a huge tree, torturing him for information.

She rammed her knee into his face again. "Who sent you!?" She yelled. The adrenaline pumping through her veins was rising and she was just keeping control. The drell spit out more blood before laughing again. "You think I can't deal with torture, oh mighty Talon?" He said, smirking.

She ripped a knife from her belt and sliced off two of the drells fingers, drawing a scream of pain from him. "Who fucking sent you!?" She screamed again, only inches away from the drells bleeding face.

The drell took a few moments of deep breathes, probably fighting through the pain from the stumps where his finger used to be.

"Nothing you can do will make me tell you!" He yelled at her. Her adrenaline pumped again, pushing her to her knees. She had to maintain control if she was going to prevent any more attempts on her family.

Her Woede's had been in full swing since the first shot hit her armor. Woede Syndrome was something that she had been diagnosed with when she entered N7. A genetic defect, Woede is the overflow of adrenaline into the bloodstream, sending the affected into fits of restlessness and sometimes intense thrill rides that stem on suicidal. Zaia had a decent control over it, but that was before Cerberus rebuilt her.

With those implants that Miranda installed, the Woede attacks got worse. Many times worse. Her attacks began to border on homicidal rages, but the usually were controllable with enough sedatives. Liara helped even more, as her mind melds were natural fighters of the Woede attacks. Liara projecting her thoughts into Zaia's mind immediately killed her adrenaline flow, and forced her to focus on the calm words that the asari would project.

When the Council rebuilt her, they placed many more implants into her body, even some muscle amplifiers in her arms and legs that reacted to the biology of her body. When her Woede's got out of control now, the adrenaline overloaded the amplifiers and The sedatives that she used to use had no effect anymore, so all she could do when an attack hit now was ride it out or pass out. She drove herself back to her feet, glaring at the laughing drell.

She stepped up to him again and punched him. While his head was turned, she drove her fingers into his left eye and, getting a grip, ripped out the second eyelid. The drell screamed in excruciating agony, yelling out what were probably all sorts of swears and curses in his own language.

"Tell me who sent you!" She yelled. If this carried on much longer, she wouldn't be able to kill him, much less even move. She fought back to her feet and cut off two more fingers from the drells other hand. "Tell me!" She yelled again.

"Nivia T'Nirra!" The drell screamed, the pain obviously too much for him. "Nivia T'Nirra sent me! She said that the T'Soni daughters are targets! Someone is there right now! The kidnapping has already started!"

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**Did you like it? Who hates me yet? You just might before this is all over. Then again, you might be too happy at the end of this to do anything! Look forward to Chapters 10, 11 and 12! Coming soon!**


	10. The Carrier

**So glad to announce that I have just finished the Reunification chapter! It will be coming soon for all of you :**

**Another word of warning for this chapter. Please do not hate me. The single scene of torture in this chapter is probably the most violent scene I have ever written on Fanfiction. Do not judge me for it, do not hate me for it. If you feel you must scream at me, curse me, do whatever, do so in a PM and I will understand.**

**Other than that, please enjoy!**

* * *

Liara sipped the cocktail she had in her hands, quiet as she worried about her daughters. It had been a few more hours since moving her daughters upstairs, and since then she had made sure that the commandos maintained a constant rotation outside her bedroom door. Garrus, Tali, herself and even Caius had done shifts outside the door.

"Mistress Liara, you really should get some sleep." Na'lara said, placing a hand on Liara's shoulder. She had just finished her own shift of guarding the bedroom and had come down after being relieved.

"I'm fine, Na'lara, really. I'll wait up for Talon to arrive back." She said, giving the biotic specialist a calm smile. The commando accepted her answer and, after nodding to the others, headed back to the commando quarters. The only people still awake was Liara, Caius and Garrus, Tali having fallen asleep on Garrus shoulder not too long ago.

"Caius, you haven't heard anything back from Talon?" She asked, hoping deep in her heart that he had. The politician shook his head sadly. "I am sorry, Liara. I sincerely wish I had better news for you." He said somberly.

As he said that, the front doors to the estate were thrown open and Talon ran in. Liara, Caius and Garrus all jumped up as he came in.  
"Talon! Where's the shooter?" Caius asked, seeing that the mercenary came back empty handed. Liara did see that he was covered in blood, however there were no clear injuries on him. The blood must have been from the drell.

"He's dead. Where are your daughters?" He demanded, his rocky voice loud in the quiet house. Liara pointed to the stairs. "Second level, master bedroom. Why?" She asked. Before she was even done talking, Talon had took off towards the stairs, Liara and the two turians right behind him.

Reaching the long hallway where the bedrooms were, Liara stopped next to the mercenary and froze. The door to her bedroom, which should have had a commando guard, stood unguarded.

"That room...it's supposed to be guarded!" She yelled, sprinting down the hall. Talon and the turians followed after her frantically. She slid to the door and grabbed the handle. To her horror, the room was locked.

"It's locked!" She yelled back to them.

"Move!" Talon bellowed. She moved just to the side as Talon's armored boot crashed through the door, his momentum helping shatter the locks on the door. Once she glanced inside the room, she fell to her knees, horror and terror taking over her body. The bed was empty, her daughters nowhere to be found. On the floor by the door was Glyph, the drones spherical shell sparking on the floor.

Just in front of the bed was the commando who had been on duty. She was sitting with her back against the bed, her face stained with tears.

Liara rose to her feet, quickly getting to her commando. It was Kira, one of her youngest commandos. "Kira! What happened?" She asked quickly, grabbing the commando by the shoulders.

She looked at Liara with tear soaked eyes. "I'm sor-sorry Mistress...I se-set it off..." She sobbed. Liara couldn't make sense of what she was saying.

"Set what off?"

"CCEMP." Talon said, picking something up off the floor by the glass balcony doors. Garrus and Caius walked over and looked at what he had. "What's a CCEMP?" Liara asked.

"Closed circuit electromagnetic pulse grenade. It cripples only electronics in a small area. Used for precision strike missions. This is how they fried Glyph." Garrus said, inspecting the grenade that he had taken from Talon and taking a look at the drone.

"Wait...Kira, did you do this? Did you kidnap my daughters?" Liara asked in horror, slowly backing away from the commando. The young girl sobbed only harder as she reached out for Liara's retreating touch.

"I didn't want to! I swear!" She cried. Garrus walked over angrily and drew his pistol, holding it to the commandos head, his eyes burning in fury.

"Why should we trust you!? You sold out your mistress! What did you trade them for, eh? Money!? Slaves!? What!?" He screamed. The commando on the floor only cried harder as the turian laid into her. Liara wanted to intervene, wanted to help her commando, but Kira had done the unthinkable. She had allowed someone into the room to kidnap Vasha and Imali.

Garrus punched the commando, sprawling her out on the floor. He was about to stomp on her when Talon stepped between him and Kira. Garrus' furious stare turned on the mercenary. "What are you doing, Talon?" He growled.

The mercenary said nothing and grabbed the commando by the front of her suit, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. "Ten minutes." He grunted before leaving the room and entering another. Garrus' fiery stare followed the mercenary angrily.

"Where the fuck is he going with that traitor?" He growled. Caius placed a hand on his shoulder, staring down the hall as well. "I have seen this first hand very recently. I believe Talon is going to torture that commando for information. He is..._very_ good at it." He said.

Garrus scoffed and helped Liara up off the floor. "He better be. He can have his ten minutes, then I'm going to kill that bitch." He fumed. Liara, who was now sitting in a chair that Caius had brought over for her, could hardly breath. Her daughters. Her daughters were gone. Kidnapped by someone. Someone who was helped by one of her own commandos. Her daughters were gone, probably scared to death as strangers manhandled them.

Minutes passed, but they felt like years. Like centuries. Finally, Talon emerged from the room he had been in and came back to the bedroom. He snapped his fingers in front of Liara's face, getting her attention.

"Nivia T'Nirra. Who is she?" He asked sternly.

"Nivia T'Nirra? She's the Headmaster at their school. Why?" She asked. Could a school teacher really be involved in this kidnapping plot? Nivia was well respected in Armali, the only child of parents who had both been instrumental in building hundreds of schools across Thessia.

"She's the mastermind behind this. I'm taking Kira with me and going after them." He said, leaving the room. Further down the hall, Garrus caught sight of Kira waiting outside the room that Talon had taken her into. She was no longer crying, but she watched Liara sadly, regret clear in her eyes.

Talon passed her and she fell into step behind him. Garrus fought the urge to just open fire down the hall, but Talon had made more progress in a few minutes than he would have made in his anger. He also had the advantage of being a mercenary, meaning he didn't care about killing people when it was necessary.

This was a mess. This kidnapping had happened to Vasha and Imali in what might be the most secure place in the galaxy apart from the Council chambers. Of course, there was no way to account for a traitorous commando _inside_ the estate. He wasn't sure what Talon planned to do with that commando, but he certainly hoped it ended painfully.

"Garrus...I may be wrong, but I think Liara has passed out..." Caius said slowly, peering curiously at the asari scientist. Garrus turned and looked as well and, just as Caius had guessed, Liara had passed out in the chair. Whether from shock or exhaustion or a combination of both, she was out cold.

"Let's get her into the bed, Caius. Then we need to figure out how to control her when she wakes up." Garrus said, helping the politician pick her up. They laid her in the bed and, to Garrus' chagrin, it was still warm where Vasha and Imali had laid together. Covering her up, they left the doors open and proceeded downstairs to the living room.

"Garrus! What happened up there?" Tali demanded. She must have woken while they were upstairs and heard the commotion. "I saw Talon walk out of here talking to one of the commandos. What happened?" Garrus strode over to her and sat her down. "You may want to sit for this, Tali."

A quick explanation had Garrus doing all he could to prevent Tali from running after that commando that had left with Talon. At the same time, she was crying about her nieces being kidnapped, and at the same time she was both angry and grateful to Talon for killing the drell assassin.

"How could this happen, Garrus!? We were all here! How could we possibly have let the girls get kidnapped?" She sobbed. Garrus held her tightly, keeping her hands restrained so she wouldn't hurt herself or him. She wailed in his arms for a few more minutes before getting herself under control.

"You finished?" Garrus asked her, not wanting to release her hands just yet.

"Yes. I'm finished." She mumbled miserably, laying loosely against her fiancè. Garrus took her hand in his, squeezing it comfortingly. There was nearly nothing they could do at this point. The person with all the information and leads, Talon, had already left. Garrus decided to think about how to keep Liara from losing her mind when she woke up.

XXX

"Why did you bring me?" Kira asked, trembling a bit as she sat rigidly in the main bay of the Fallen Angel. Draga had picked up Zaia and her commando companion just outside the T'Soni estate and they had taken off immediately, heading for Armali.

"You help me find the girls and maybe I won't kill you." Zaia started, arguing with herself about whether to tell the commando who she really was or not. "You told me that T'Nirra is holding your family hostage. The threat of them being killed is why you helped them kidnap the T'Soni daughters."

"That's right. My three sisters and my mother. When I went home last, there was a message from Nivia saying that if I ever want to see them again, I have to help her get into the T'Soni estate." The asari said, tears coming to the corners of her eyes. Zaia grit her teeth behind her helmet. Chances are this girls family was already dead. Being so young, it was no surprise that she thought her family was still alive. Mercenaries always left hostage threats to get what they wanted, but almost always the hostages were killed immediately. It was a cruel truth, but that's how mercs worked.

"Talon, we're over Matron T'Nirra's home." Draga said over the comm. Shepard had warned her to only use the name Talon while the commando was with them.

"Good. Open the hatch, and keep the Angel running silent." She commanded. Promptly, a small access hatch opened and the hot Thessian air wafted into the Angel. Looking over, Zaia saw that the ship was hovering about ten feet above the roof of a large house. Not nearly as big as the T'Soni estate, but still large.

She landed on the roof with a thud, the commando following after her, landing without a sound. Immediately, she ran a scan of the building, looking for entrances. There was a balcony on the side of the building that they could use to gain entry.

"No talking." Shepard said quietly to Kira. The commando nodded and followed Zaia to the balcony. Once on it, she used biotics to pick the lock and get inside soundlessly. Usually, Shepard would have waltzed in the front door, guns blazing. However, she was giving this commando a shot at life.

Silently, she and the commando made their way through the halls. Zaia, her night vision activated, noticed that the walls, much like the T'Soni estate were mostly bare. However, what pictures she did see were of this Nivia T'Nirra and another asari whom was unidentified.

When she left the T'Soni estate, Zaia made sure to download an image of the Headmaster from the extranet. She set her HUD to alert her whenever the image was matched to something she was looking at. A snap alerted her and she glanced over to Kira who was crouched down by a door.

Shuffling over, Shepard peeked through the cracked door. Inside, an asari was frantically packing personal effects into a bag. She ran between three, massive safes taking out credit chits, clothing and crystal jewelry filled with precious gems.

Shepard eased the door open soundlessly and approached the asari's back. As she turned around to run to another safe, Shepard clamped a hand around her neck and rammed her against the wall.

"Going somewhere?" Shepard growled, slowly tightening her grip. The asari struggled against her hand, her fragile hand producing nearly no strength whatsoever. Whoever this was, she was no mercenary.

"I'm runn-running away!" She choked. Shepard cocked her head at the asari. Running away? She sounded more like a fucking teenager than anything else. "Who are you?" She demanded.

The asari kicked Zaia in the leg, doing absolutely nothing for her situation. "Hesti T'Nirra!" She yelled.

Looking back at Kira, who was standing just beside the door, Shepard point down to the lower level. The commando nodded and dashed off to search the bottom floor. "Nivia T'Nirra. Where is she?"

"My mother? What makes you think I know?" She snapped. Shepard didn't say anything but tightened her grip around the asari's neck.

"I really don't know! I hate my mother!" She yelled, once again yanking at Shepard's fingers and kicking at her stomach and legs. Zaia's Woede's was still running on overdrive, her adrenaline pumping her heart to near inhuman levels. Luckily, with implants and some cybernetics, she would never have a heart attack.

"Why?" Zaia grunted, relaxing her grip to allow Hesti to breath for a minute. The girl glared daggers at Shepard's helmet, gritting her teeth. "My mother is a bitch. All she ever cares about is that stupid school she's building."

Shepard's eyes narrowed in her helmet. "School? Where?" She demanded. Hesti gave her a smug look. "Put me down and I'll tell you everything." She said, rolling her eyes at Shepard. As much as she wanted to snap this girls neck for her casual attitude, it seemed that she had valuable information. Zaia released her and waited while Hesti massaged her neck.

"My mom has treated me like shit for years. Ever since she hooked up with some guy, she's been obsessed with little kids and their undiscovered power or some stupid shit like that." She said. Rummaging through one of the bags, she took out a datapad and clicked through it. After a few moments, she gave it to Shepard. On it were coordinates and plans.

"She created this school for little asari kids. Apparently she's trying to unlock some hidden biotic ability or something like that. There was a bunch of nasty looking chemicals being ordered to those coordinates."

Shepards narrowed eyes now turned back to Hesti. This girl was essentially giving her all she needed to track down Vasha and Imali, and doing so without a second thought. "How do you know all this?" She grunted.

Hesti smirked. "I told you, mercenary man, I hate my mom. I've been digging around in her stuff for over a hundred years. I know every secret that she has. I could blackmail the bitch whenever I wanted." She declared proudly, crossing her arms over her chest. At that moment, Kira returned from searching the lower floor.

"No sign of T'Nirra or the girls." She said, a flare of regret hitting her face as she mentioned the T'Soni daughters. Hesti glared at her, maybe angry about the fact that the commando had been poking around, before looking back at Shepard.

"The school should be there, and just so you know, my mom takes the kids to some ship somewhere, then takes them to the school."

"Why?" Zaia demanded. Hesti shrugged. "Kinda like people run money through several accounts. Throws anyone sniffing around off the trail. That school is illegal!" She whispered the last part as if Zaia was an investigator. She couldn't be farther from the truth. Zaia pulled a pistol from her belt, pointing it at the young asari.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you." She demanded. In all reality, it would be easy for her to call her mother and tell her that Talon was on the way. It would be twice as easy to set a ridiculously overmanned trap. It would be five times as easy to hide Vasha and Imali for years with no leads.

"Told you haven't I? I hate my mom. She can rot in a varren's belly for all I care. I'm going to Ilium to live with my aunt Nenin. If you're thinking that I'm going to warn someone, don't worry about it." She said, looking down the barrel of the gun boldly. If she was scared of it, she did an admirable job of not showing it.

Shepard found herself...unable to pull the trigger. If this had happened a year ago, even six months ago she would have killed this girl without a second thought. Once again, the effects of being around asari were affecting her, but mainly Draga. For all ten years that she had worked as the councils dog, she had never had an asari pilot before Draga. She was starting to think that there was more to Draga than she let on.

"Fine. If I find that you did, you're dead." Shepard said, holstering her pistol and heading towards the front of the house, Kira following her. When they got outside, Draga lowered two cables from the hatch of the Fallen Angel, each of them grabbing one and being hoisted into the small frigate.

"Destination?" Draga asked briefly over the comm. Shepard sat down, a savage grin spreading across her face. Going through her omni, she found the coordinates that Hesti had given her.

"Let's go hunting." She answered.

XXX

"Magnus, are we ready?" James asked, walking up behind the giant swede. It had taken them a couple days worth of searching, but they had finally found the crippled carrier in the Artemis Tau cluster. They even managed to get a shuttle into the docking bay before the mercs realized they were there.

Before any shots had even been fired, they had panicked and lowered the blast doors between the docking bay and the rest of the ship. Now, James and his strike team were working on a way into the ships interior. Their demolitions expert, Magnus, was now setting what he called 'de bomm'. James didn't even know what it was made out of, but it blew the shit out of things, so he let Magnus do his thing.

"Close, cap. Ya better get the othars." He answered, fussing over a wire connection. James laughed as the swede muttered to himself about uncooperative explosives. Magnus was probably in the top five for explosive experts in all of the Systems Alliance.

Magnus Odinsson was born in Stockholm to a wealthy businessman and a hand model. He was always ridiculed for his size and thick blonde hair, Magnus quickly became a juvenile delinquent who has a passion for fire, leading to several arrests for arson.

On the night of his eighteenth birthday, he set fire to the home of a business executive whose company was about to put Magnus' father out of business. The resulting fire spread and ignited almost two full streets of homes and apartment buildings before it was brought under control.

He was arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison. While there, he spent a lot of time in the prison library, reading books about chemistry and bomb making, becoming an expert under the noses of the guards.

Magnus was granted parole in his fourth year, and he stayed clean. While he had been in prison, his family had fallen on hard times. Due to his being arrested, his father had been fired from his work and turned to the bottle. His mother had lost all her endorsement deals and was desperately trying to support the family herself.

He took direct responsibility and, to make amends, he got what jobs he could and worked himself to the bone. At times, he worked four or five jobs and slept only one or two hours a day at most. Despite all of his hard work, Magnus' father never emerged from his alcoholism. One night, his father beat his mother to the brink of death in a drunken rage.

When Magnus got the call from the hospital, he hurried over. His mother was on life support, but the doctors were unsure of her future. Magnus left and gathered supplies from his old criminal contacts and, over a full six days rigged up an old home in the country side. When he was ready, he told his father that there was a free drinks brothel out in the country. When his father got inside, Magnus set off enough explosives to blow away several city blocks.

When the police investigated, they found nothing but a smoking crater when the house used to be. When they began to run forensics, for a whole two miles around the home wreckage more explosives went off. From that point on, Magnus Odinsson was the premier bomb craftsman in the Swedish underworld.

For years, he stayed at large, crafting bombs for whoever paid most. Finally, in a joint international sting, he was caught trying to emigrate to the United States. Charged and convicted of murdering his father and almost fifty forensic scientists and police, along with acts of terrorism, he was sentenced to death. While he sat on Death Row, he was visited by a new military captain named James Vega. The captain told him that he could clear his name through service in the N7, and serving he was.

"Ya, Cap'n. She is ready." Magnus called, running over. James and the others had stacked a bunch of crates and barriers to hide behind when the explosion undoubtedly threw shrapnel and debris their way. Kneeling down beside Ching, Magnus began to count down.

"One...two...spränga!" Yelling the last word, Magnus hit the detonator and the door blew apart. Before the dust cleared, James and Hector, another strike operative, went through the newly blown opening, guns up and ready. Ching followed behind them and Magnus brought up the rear, his favorite shotgun primed and ready to remove vanguard attacks.

As they progressed through the halls, it became apparent that this was no ordinary merc hit. Gun fire in the halls was nonexistent. No scorch marks, debris, bullets holes or even shell casings. The place looked more like a serene museum than a raided carrier.

"James, this place is too quiet..." Ching whispered through the comm. Just her whispered voice sounded like it was amplified through a loudspeaker in the silent halls. They reached a split in the halls, three more halls splitting off the one they had been walking down.

"Three split. What's our move, boss?" Hector asked, glancing over at James. Vega looked down each hall, thinking back to his training. What would Commander Shepard do in this situation?

"Ching, run a heat scan." He ordered. The Korean medic rolled her eyes and pulled out the scanner, pointing it down each hall for about a minute each. "Two options, James." She pointed down the halls directly in front of them and to the left. "Heat signatures each of those ways, but down the left hall they are...different. Tightly packed."

Immediately, James and Hector began to head down that hall. "Probably a control center. Lets check it out. Shock charge behind us." James said briefly before Ching and Magnus followed them. Kneeling for a moment, Magnus set a proximity shock charge at the end of the hallway. Anyone who came within three feet would get a paralyzing shock, and the charge would alert him when it went off. As he followed the team, he armed the charge.

"Dagger One to strike team." A voice said over the comm.

"Strike team copies. What is it?" James answered quickly. Dagger was the name of the ship they used to reach the carrier. Its pilot, a German called Robert von Richthofen, had been James' team pilot since their time in the N7.

"Intercepted radio chatter. Unknown number of hostiles headed you way." Robert relayed the message. "Copy that. Strike team out." James answered. He turned to Hector who was walking next to him. They came up on some storage crates and lockers in the hall.

"Hector, eagle nest. Rendezvous here. Ten minutes." He commanded. Hector nodded and broke off, moving the crates into a barrier. He pulled out an N7 Valiant sniper rifle and set up, keeping an eye down the hall. The eagle nest was just the nickname that James had given for a sniper watching for hostiles.

They moved at a faster pace now. Their mission was to take out any mercs aboard the carrier. With Hector as the eagle nest, Magnus moved up walked side by side with James while Ching followed. Being a medic, she was only armed with a simple Predator pistol and thus they tried their best to keep her out of combat situations.

Finally, the hallway gave out to a large mess hall, though it was empty. James and Magnus looked around carefully, watching for any chance of an ambush. "Ching, scan." James said quickly. The medic complied, running a heat signature scan of the immediate area. After a minute, she pointed to a door on the far side. "In there."

The three of them quickly proceeded to the room, James and Magnus taking positions on each side of it. Using his hand, James counted down from three to one, and then Magnus kicked the door open.

"What the..." James trailed off as he entered the room. It was filled with children. They were mostly asari and human, but there were two salarian children there as well. At the sound of him and Magnus breaking in, the children had all backed into the corner, their fearful eyes plastered on the two soldiers.

"Uh...not sure what to do here, cap..." Magnus said slowly, backing up. James couldn't help but crack a small smile at that. Magnus was a six and a half foot tall colossus, explosives expert and soldier who didn't blink at live gunfire, but a room full of kids had him backing up to the wall.

"You two are morons. Let me handle this." Ching scoffed as she walked in past them. James rolled his eyes at the medic, snickering at the hurt look on Magnus' face. She slowly walked up to the first child and took a knee, holding out her hand.

"We're not going to hurt you, ok?" She said slowly. The little asari rubbed her eyes as she tried vainly to back up more. Ching sat back on her knees, giving a soft smile. "You can talk to me, child." She said kindly. The child nervously stood up.  
"Are you here to take us away too?" She asked. James couldn't place her age, mostly because he didn't understand how asari children grew, but he was more concerned with what she said.

"Take you away? Have others been taken away?" Ching asked, tilting her head slightly. The child nodded. "There were two girls who got here the other day, and then some mean lady came and took them away!" She yelled.

Ching held up her hands. "Don't need to yell, dear. We'll find them. Now, we going to get you all out of here." She said before turning and walking up to Vega.

"We need to get them out of here." She said quietly. He stared her in the eye. "They can wait, we ne-"

"James! They're _kids_! They cannot wait!" She replied angrily, trying to keep her voice down. At that moment, the comm pinged as Hector connected to them. "Boss, I'm not sure I understand this."

"What do you mean?" James asked, ignoring Ching for the moment. From the glare he received, she was annoyed with him. Which as always was his goal.

"Saw a group of mercenaries, ten strong, approach the shock charge and was going to open fire, but they were fired upon from the hanger access hallway. Silencers. Ten up, ten down in less than a minute, biotic flashes confirmed." Hector reported. James' eyes hardened in thought. Someone else was on this carrier besides his team and the mercenaries. Someone who was clearly dangerous.

"Keep eyes on. Report to me as soon as you get a visual. Mission just became...complicated." He said before severing the link. He flashed his eyes between Ching and the children. "Ching, we can't do this yet. There are still hostiles..." He started.

The young woman rolled her eyes at him. "Are you such a thickheaded soldier that you can't see what's right? Shooting people can wait!" She hissed. James swore inwardly, his eyes getting hard.

"Mission comes first Ching! It's always been that way!" He snapped. Their mission, first and foremost, was to eliminate mercenary presence, those were their orders.

"We never had _kids_ for hostages!" She snapped back, defiance bright in her eyes. James ran a frustrated hand through his hair, pacing around in front of the frightened children.

"Fine Ching, have it your way. You stay here with the kids. Magnus and I will rendezvous with Hector and try to finish the mission. Keep radio contact." He said furiously, heading towards the door where Magnus stood. They ran to the top level of the mess hall and reentered the hallways. Soon, they sighted Hector, still in his same position in the hall.

"Have you seen anything?" James asked, keeping his assault rifle aimed down the hall. Magnus, not prepared for any long range engagements, simply knelt down beside the crates. Hector shook his head. "Nothing. Mercs were gunned down, then nothing."

"Alright. Pack up, were headed down to engage the mercenaries." James ordered sternly. He rationalized that it would be easier to take care of things without Ching being there. In a moment, Hector had lifted the rifle and set off down the hall, keeping the scope trained ahead of them.

"Where's Ching?" He asked, not stopping. James shook his head, not that Hector could see it, but still. "Being idealistic. She's with those kids back there and refuses to follow through with the mission." He ground out angrily. Order was his thing. You always followed orders and completed the mission objectives. He was relaxed outside of the field, but when he stepped into the command role, he played no games.

They reached the intersection of the halls when Magnus stopped them. He tapped a few buttons on his omni and deactivated the shock charge. Walking over carefully, he picked it up and stored it away. Giving them a nod, they set off through the bodies of the mercs. Hector had been correct.

Ten mercs, all dead. Three had clear signs of biotic impacts.

They moved on down the hall towards the other heat signatures that Ching had scanned earlier. They approach a large door and several glass paned rooms. Inside, mercs sat at tables and a makeshift bar. There were members of all races here. Asari, salarian, krogan, batarian, human and even drell.

"Have you ever seen so many races in a single gang?" Hector wondered quietly. James shared his wonder, but he shook it off. He took cover behind the low wall, his two comrades following his example.

"How do you want to do this, boss?" Hector asked, peeking over the wall. "Thirteen hostiles in there. They seem unaware that the group sent out earlier is dead."

"Magnus, did you bring grenades?" James asked, turning to the swede. Magnus looked hurt by his question, his face dropping into a pronounced pout. "Cap! You insult me!" He said indignantly, pulling five grenades from his belt. With a maniacal grin, he pulled two pins and hurled both grenades through the glass into the room.

Both exploded on first contact, sending the mercs into disarray. While the smoke cleared, both James and Hector went in low, firing shots left and right, picking off confused mercs. At the other side of the room, a door slid open and more mercs, fully armored streamed into the room.

James and Hector flipped tables as another grenade flew over them, landing just in front of the door. It detonated, sending body parts flying_. _"Beröm Valhalla!" Magnus roared, a loud, gutteral viking bellow. Despite blowing several away, more mercs continued to flow out of the room. James and Hector fired when they could, but their cover was being destroyed by the second by the barrage of bullets from the Revenant mercenaries.

"Boss! There's too many! We have to pull back!" Hector yelled before leaning out and putting a bullet through a batarians head. James knew that his partner was right. They would never survive if they stayed there. "Magnus! Smoke screen!" He yelled. Not a second later, another grenade sailed over them, popping into a thick smoke. As soon as the smoke spread, both James and Hector motored out of the room into the hallway.

Magnus had already started back towards the first intersection, sprinting as fast as he could. It didn't take long for James and Hector to catch up to him. Before long, they came within sight of the first intersection, and James froze. Hurrying through it towards the hanger was Ching and almost forty children.

"What the bloody hell is she doing!?" Magnus yelled, skidding to a stop. If the mercs caught up to them now, the kids wouldn't stand a chance. James roared in fury and toppled over some crates in the hallway, setting up facing the oncoming merc mob.  
"We have to give her time! Hold the them here!" He yelled. Hector threw his assault rifle to Magnus before pulling out his Valiant. The two of them set up next to James, facing the wave of yellow and brown armor streaming towards them.

"Fire!" James yelled.

XXX

"I'm just the middle man. I don't actually know where they are now!" Nivia T'Nirra gasped, spitting blood out of her mouth. After infiltrating the carrier they had found from coordinates that Hesti had given them, Talon and Kira had easily reached the makeshift control room that Revenant was using. To Kira's surprise, Nivia was there and had no clue that she was being followed.

Her bodyguards had lasted all of ten seconds and now T'Nirra was tied up in a chair while they questioned her. Talon had taken her beating a lot farther than Kira thought necessary, even going so far as to cut off one of Nivia's fingers. He was as brutal as he was efficient. Kira had been quite surprised at the mercenaries skills at infiltration. Usually, men like him who wore such thick armor were shit at sneaking about.

"Who did you hand them off to?" Talon asked, absently cleaning the blade that he had just used to slice her finger off. He was intensely calm and comfortable doing something like this. T'Nirra, previously smug and confident had been reduced to a wreck.

"I don't know!" She yelled at him. He punched her in the face again, drawing a grunt of pain from the asari. "You're lying to me." He said calmly. Kira paced behind them, sympathy and pleasure coursing through her. Nivia had ruined her life, not only by kidnapping her family, but also by forcing her to betray Mistress Liara. She was glad that she was in such pain, but at the same time, it seemed...wrong to put her through this torture.

"I've told you everything I know!" She yelled. Talon chuckled to himself, walking around the matron. After a minute, he placed his hand on her crests.

"You know, Nivia, I hear that asari crests are incredible. That just a touch is soothing to the entire body. That they help balance out hormones during pregnancy and even help the flow of biotic power through the body..." He trailed off, stroking the crests softly. Kira watched him warily. This was a strange turn from what he had been doing before.

"Would you like to fucking keep them!?" He yelled, gripping the crests and putting the serrated edge of his blade against them. Nivia screamed as tears began to roll down her face. "I don't know anything else! I swear!"

Talon sawed the first crest off, drawing a horrific scream from Nivia. Kira stepped back in terror. The crests were the one part of an asari that were...sacred. Nudity meant nothing to the asari really. There wasn't a single mature asari who worried about being naked, but to do such a thing to the _crests_...it was...barbaric.

"You're lying!" He yelled, his blade placed on the next crest. Nivia howled in fear, crying heavily. At this point, Kira thought he was going way too far. She went to take a step towards him when uncertainty hit her. If he was willing to cut off an asari' crests, why would he even begin to hesitate to kill her?

"My sister! Paloma T'Nirra! New Grissom Academy! She has them!" She screamed. Talon removed the blade from the crest for a moment. "How do I know?" Talon asked. T'Nirra looked over to the desk in the room. When she turned her head, Kira got a terrible view of the stub where her first crest used to be. It spurted blood onto the floor, the nerve endings exposed and bleeding.

"That computer has the vi...video of the hand off..." She sobbed. Talon walked over and dug through the computer. After a minute, she put a video up on the screens. In it, Nivia entered the hanger with both the T'Soni girls behind her. A shuttle was in the hanger, and standing in front of it was another asari. On the side of the shuttle was the unmistakeable symbol for the New Grissom Academy.

Talon took out his pistol and put two bullets into Nivia T'Nirra's head, killing her instantly. Kira couldn't stop herself from speaking out any longer.

"How can you be so cruel?" She asked, her eyes narrowed on the mercenary. Talon glanced at her, seemingly unfazed by her question. "Nivia deserved her fate." He said, clicking through the monitors.

"Who are you to decide what she deserves, Ta-"

Before she finished, Talon rushed across the room and pinned her to the wall, his pistol pressed against the commando's chin. "I'm going to let you in on a little secret, _Kira_. The commando who helped in the kidnapping of two _children_ has no business criticizing me for fixing her mess. You do not want me to decide what fate you deserve." He growled.

Kira shut her eyes to stop the stinging tears from rolling down her face. She was more terrified right now than she had been ever before in her entire life. Talon was by far the most vicious man she had ever met, and he could kill her at any moment.

His pistol left her chin, and he walked away from the wall, leaving her gasping in relief. From somewhere within the ship a explosion sounded. After a few moments, another. Talon rushed to a terminal, clicking through the surveillance camera's. Soon, he got to a camera that displayed three human men running away from a sizable force of Revenant thugs.

On another camera, a human woman was leading a large group of children back towards the hanger bay. "Talon, we have to help them!" She exclaimed, forgetting her fear from before completely. The mercenary didn't answer her, but he was typing furiously on the terminal. He lifted his omni and began typing furiously on that. She noted the sound of a call going out.

"Who is this!?" Came the frenzied response. Through the link, Kira could hear the gunfire from the hallway. Talon must have hacked into one of the humans comms.

"Talon. Move. At the end of that hall, there is a security door. Get there." He grunted. On the camera feed, Kira saw the three men, two of which were unremarkable, but one who was giant. Probably six and a half, maybe seven feet tall with long blonde hair. They stood up and started running back towards the children, shooting back into the pack of mercenaries.

As soon as they reached the intersection where Kira and Talon had killed ten mercs, a massive door slammed down on that hallway, sealing the mercs away from the humans. Talon severed the call connection and left the terminal.

"How do we get out?" Kira asked. The merc pack was now trying to find a way around the door, and she heard Nivia's omni begin to ring. No doubt they were attempting to contact her to raise the door. In a few minutes, they would come to investigate what happened to her.

"Elevator just outside this room. We take it up two floors, then get to the front of the ship. There is another docking bay. Draga will pick us up there." He replied, heading out of the room. Kira cast one more nervous glance at the dead asari and her severed crest laying on the ground. A cold shiver ran up her back as she turned away and followed Talon.

* * *

**As I mentioned above, the scene is horrible. I hope nobody took it too hard, but rest easy. There will be no more scenes of that nature in this story. Warfare maybe, but torture no. Read and Review!**


	11. Rebirth of the Broker

**Hey guys! Welcome to chapter 11 of Violet Eyes! This chapter is the penultimate chapter to the wonderful Reunification chapter!**

* * *

This. Fucking. Sucked.

Jack was laying in a hospital room down on Horizon, momentarily unable to...well shit, unable to move. At all. On top of that, her leg was killing her and the stupid fucking nurse who controlled her meds had gone AWOL, while at the same time forgetting to give her a stupid bell or something to call her lazy ass back in there.

The old Jack would have just started destroying shit until someone paid attention to her, but Miranda had forced her to promise that she would stop breaking things all the time. And that was the cherry on the fucking cake. Miranda was absolutely furious with her. Hey, in any normal relationship when someone gets hurt, they get spoiled and doted on. All Jack got was the fucking silent treatment.

She knew she was taking a chance, driving Becca to control her power, but the girl had responded perfectly. Her real mistake was driving her to control it to the point of precision. The warp that the girl lost control of blew Jack away, grinding her over a hundred feet through the dirt and doing quite a number on the teacher.

To her students credit Becca, Sarah and Marcus acted as soon as it happened, contacting Horizon emergency personnel and making sure there were no time sensitive injuries. For whatever reason, Jack decided that that moment would be best to talk to Becca about her little outburst about suicide and all that.

Jack had made sure to tell Becca that, despite being different, she was just as important as anyone else. She had reasoned that being normal was boring. Being different was a special feature. An added bonus. The prize at the bottom of the box. Being a teenager who certainly had boys on her mind 90 percent of the time, Becca was more worried about not being noticed for things like formals and parties. Jack told her that the coolest part of being different was being fun. Normal girls were boring and bitchy.

Becca had given her a wide grin and thanks and promised to visit her in the hospital before standing aside for the emergency people to get at her. Unfortunately, against Jack's highest hopes, she would need to go through a hospital stay to begin healing.

Apart from just serious rug burn, she sustained only a fractured leg. It would have been much worse, but she wasn't the practicals professor for nothing. When she saw that Becca lost control, she had enough time to generate a small field around herself. It wasn't strong enough to prevent her being thrown clear, but it was strong enough to reduce the force by which she was thrown.

While she was getting treated, her students decided that it would be a good idea to call their teachers evil partner, Professor Lawson, and tell her what happened. Fucking sweet. Didn't help Jack at all that Miranda heard about her being in the hospital from a student.

Sarah was one of the few students who had figured out that Miranda and Jack weren't just two teachers who worked together to torture them. She had never started any rumors or anything, but Jack was sure that she knew about her and Miranda being more than colleagues.

When Jack had been rolled in to a room for the night, she received a fiery call from her lover. For a good thirty minutes, Jack got the grilling of a lifetime before Miranda disconnected. That was two days ago. She had not had a call from the elder Lawson since. And it sucked. Even worse? That stupid nurse still wasn't giving her her fucking meds!

She tried to go to sleep, but the pain in her leg prevented anything from taking hold. Jack usually didn't sleep all that well anyway, so this pain was just making the improbable impossible. Hours passed when finally, the door opened. Jack jerked up in bed as far as her elevated leg would allow.

"Bout' fucking time!" She yelled angrily. The nurse jumped at her patients outburst, but calmed down again in a minute. She calmly walked over to the monitors and checked Jack's vitals, which was ridiculous. It wasn't her organs that were in pain, it was her damn leg.

"Professor Jack, you have a visitor." She said, looking at a datapad. Jack raised an eyebrow in curiosity. It was the middle of the night. Who was coming to see her in the middle of the night? The nurse carried on checking various machines and charts, then left the room. For twenty minutes, nobody came. Jack figured that the nurse was probably being a bitch, so she tried to go to sleep again.

With her eyes closed, she registered someone walking into the room. Stupid damn nurse, always bugging her and spinning lies about visitors. Jack hated this stupid hospital. The head doctors were composed of three salarians, one asari and one human. Other than them, it was staffed by humans, and annoying ones too.

A warm feeling washed over her, and for the first time in hours, she wasn't in pain. Finally the stupid nurse gave her her meds. Maybe now she could sleep. Her breathing got more even now that she wasn't grimacing every two seconds. She was surprised when she heard a chair being placed down next to her bed. A moment later, a warm hand took hers and intertwined their fingers with her own.

She opened her eyes and looked to her right side. Sitting in a chair next to her bed was Miranda. The beautiful woman had her hair pulled back in a pony tail, a few loose strands falling over her face. In her right hand she held a datapad that she was reading. Her left hand was holding Jacks. It was an amazingly comforting feeling.

"I'm sorry..." Jack mumbled. Miranda looked up from the pad with a small smile. She leaned over wordlessly and claimed Jack's lips deeply. Their tongues soon danced with each other, the sound of wet lips smacking the only thing to be heard beyond the whir of machines. The passionate kiss went on until finally they had to come up for breath.

"You're forgiven, love. How are you feeling?" She asked, taking stock of the rig that had Jack's leg raised above the bed. Jack shrugged as well as she could while laying down.

"Much better now, but still frustrated." She said, glaring at the stupid braces and cables and shit. Miranda couldn't help but give a light giggle at her lovers state. "You put yourself here, love. How can you be frustrated?"

Jack shook her head. "Not frustrated about being here. I knew I was taking a hard chance. It's just...this seems overboard for a fractured leg. You were a docter, what do you think?" She replied. Under normal circumstances, Miranda's past as a doctor was a source of infinite pleasure for Jack. It got thousands of times better when she ordered Miranda a skimpy doctor uniform. It took her awhile to get the woman to wear it, but holy shit when she did the sex was amazing.

Miranda tsked, something she usually did when deep in throught. "I see why you would think that, but this is just a precaution. If blood clots formed while you were still waiting on emergency response, then this is the way to combat them."

Jack sighed heavily. "Still seems ridiculous...how are the kids?" She asked. When she had told her students to leave and go back to the station, Jack had noticed that they were a bit shaken up by it, especially Becca. She messaged Miranda to talk to them for her.

"Sarah was the most shaken up about it. She scared that you were going to die." Miranda answered with a smirk. She knew how resilient Jack was, so it was a bit amusing for her to hear the students being so concerned. A simple warp, no matter how powerful wouldn't kill Jack. Not by a long shot.

"Other than her, Marcus and Becca were mostly fine. Marcus promised me that he would keep an eye on Sarah for the next few days." She said, sitting down and taking Jack's hand again. Jack relaxed in her bed and closed her eyes, the combination of Miranda and the meds doing wonders for her.

"It's like 2 in the morning. Why are you here?" She asked after a few minutes, her eyes still closed. She was enjoying how Miranda absently played with her fingers.

"Only way to come see you without arousing suspicion." Miranda answered simply. Jack mumbled an agreement as she slowly started to doze off. She was vaguely aware of things, and it was heavenly.

"Sarah knows about us, angel..." Jack mumbled.

* * *

Miranda glanced over to Jack in shock. "How would Sarah know about us?" She asked quietly. She waited patiently for Jack to answer, but when she listened closer, all she could hear was her lovers quiet breathes. Jack's chest rose and fell peacefully, her face set in a serene smile.

Despite being a bit shocked about the possibility of Sarah revealing their relationship, Miranda could not help but smile at Jack. She was absolutely the last person that she ever guessed she would fall in love with. The bandit had changed a lot of her abrasive language and mannerisms so as to not upset Miranda, and the effect that the kids here at Grissom had on her was astounding.

Between them and Miranda, Jack's life had been mostly balanced out, and her pain from Cerberus and her memories of Pragia had fallen away. She was a new woman, and Miranda couldn't imagine anyone who she could love more.

She leaned down and placed a kiss on Jack's cheek before taking her seat once more. She resumed reading her datapad and fiddling with her lovers fingers.

XXX

"Liara!" The yell came from downstairs. Liara bolted out of her chair in her office and sprinted down to the kitchen. "What? What is it? Talon?" She demanded breathlessly. Caius and Garrus eyed her warily while Tali put her hands on her hips.

"No. Breakfast. You have to eat." She said sternly, grabbing Liara by the wrist and dragging her to the table. She sat the asari down, and as soon as she did Garrus and Caius pulled their chairs up on either side of her. In front of her was a large plate of salad and fruit, her favorite food.

"I don't have time for this!" She said while getting up. The turians on either side of her clamped down on her shoulders, pushing her back down into the seat. Tali shook her head at her best friend.

"Liara, enough. We've played this game with every meal so far. Just eat and take something to drink and then you can go back to your office." She said, shoving her plate closer to her. Liara struggled against the steel grip of the turians. "I can't eat while my daughters are out there! Let me go!" She complained, trying desperately to escape Garrus and Caius' grasp.

When she woke up the day after her daughters were taken, she spent most of it in bed, too stunned to move or do anything. Tali essentially spoon fed her that day. She moped and cried, wailed and screamed, bouncing between anger, sadness, fury and helplessness.

This went on for hours until she had cried herself out. No more tears existed in her body. None in her mind. None in her soul. She began to think about just leaving and going on exile to some distant moon where nobody would find her so she could die alone and stop torturing her daughters. Tali always wanted kids. Tali could take them. Even Wrex. He would be a better parent than she was.

Just like that, she slowly cataloged all the reasons why her respective friends, relatives, even colleagues who she hated would be better at caring for her own daughters. When Tali came in to check on her, Liara asked her if she could think of anyone who could better take care of Vasha and Imali.

That was the first time since her and Tali met that she ever saw the quarian hit someone other than their enemies. She slapped Liara so hard that her ears rang and her vision blurred. As Liara lay on the floor stunned, Tali said that she couldn't believe how far the scientist had fallen. She said that Liara was a disgrace to asari and mothers of all races if she was so ready to give up. Without a tear, Tali said these things and left.

Liara spent an hour on the floor exactly where she had fallen, shocked that Tali would hit her. Shocked at the things her best friend had said to her. She slowly began to wonder if he friends had given up on her, like she had given up on her daughters. She crawled over to her office and logged into her terminal. She searched through her network, desperately looking to find a planet to retreat to.

As she searched, she started seeing things in her network. Old contacts. The vestiges of the Shadow Broker network. Remnants of the original crime networks of the old galaxy. When her daughters were born, Liara abandoned the Shadow Broker network. Didn't destroy it, but didn't use it. She decided that her daughters would receive as much attention as she could afford them. She figured she would just take a look.

Some of the intel brokers still maintained contact with who they believed was the broker. Still had updated logs and data feeds. Some had reestablished new feeds...some were completely new agents...maybe...just maybe there was a chance.

She started digging. Making calls. Sifting through the galaxy, Her time as the Shadow Broker taught her to see trends in endless numbers. To find information where there was none. She found Zaia when the SR-1 was destroyed. She found the Catalyst. She found the Puradomes. She could find her daughters.

Since that realization, she had become the Shadow Broker once more, hurling the network back online and reactivating every contact she had. The agents were surprised by the sudden reappearance of the Broker, several admitting that they thought the Broker had perished in the Reaper War.

The search had been fruitless, but she was getting closer. There were whispers of two asari children being ferried around the galaxy through a system of exchange locations. Why the exchanges she was unsure, but she was sure that those two asari children were her daughters.

"Liara. Eat." Garrus said sternly, gesturing to the food. Liara shook her head and struggled against their grip again, despite it being pointless. Turians were much stronger physically than any asari, and she was unwilling to use biotics against her friends.

"Garrus! I'm making progress and I'm in a rush! Let me go!" She whined. Garrus shook his head and pressed down harder on her shoulder, Caius following his lead. Tali crossed her arms over her chest, sighing deeply. Liara continued to struggle, but finally had enough. She used a small push to propel herself away form the table and away from the turians, both of whom were thrown to the floor from the force of the biotics.

"I'll eat when my daughters are home!" She snarled before rushing back to her office. Glyph, having been reactivated by Liara soon after she restarted the broker network, was whirring as he ran through information and reports.  
"Dr. T'Soni, you have received an urgent message. However it is encrypted, and I cannot access it or hack past the firewall. You will have to open it yourself." He said. She nodded silently and immediately went through her inbox. Finding the message, she opened it and was surprised to find that it was from the asari Council representative, Tevos. As soon as it opened on her terminal, the firewall that had prevented Glyph from viewing it came down, revealing the text itself.

_Dr. Liara T'Soni,_

_I hope this message finds you well, though I doubt that it does. With recent events, I'm sure you are quite distressed. Understandable. Unfortunate. _

_Regrettably, with such events now in motion, the Council is inputting a fail-safe. You are to report to the Council Chambers at once. This is Council Decree: Refusal is tantamount to treason and will be punished as such. _

_Councilor Tevos._

What the hell is this now? Fail-safe? What on earth is the Council putting in a fail-safe for? On her adventures with Zaia, Liara had a lot of encounters with the Councilors, both individually and in the chambers themselves. It seemed...unlikely that they would overreact to something like this. What could be freaking them out so badly?

As she thought, Glyph turned to her again. "Dr. T'Soni, an unidentified caller is trying to reach your private vid comm. Shall I allow access?" Liara thought hard. Who knew that she had a vid comm in her office? Not even her commandos knew about it. Only someone who knew her closely would be aware of it.

"Yes, but stand by with a tracking virus. Not the usual kind, the quantum coded kind." She answered. Glyph quickly complied while Liara spun her chair around to face a large screen installed on the wall behind her. The screen burst into static, and then a picture formed.

"Dr. T'Soni." Said Councilor Huuru Povya, standing in his office on the Citadel. Next to him stood Councilor Nicholas Cooper, the human representative on the Council. While both looked prim and proper as befit a Councilor, their faces were soft and kind.

"Councilors. What can I do for you?" She replied, easily masking her uncertainty about the message she had just received. Somehow, Tevos knew that she would be upset now, so she was sure that these two knew just as well.

"A pleasure to finally meet you, Dr. T'Soni, but we must address the current debacle." Huuru said, pacing in front of the screen. _Debacle?_ Liara thought curiously. Something big was definitely going down with the Council, and somehow it had something to do with her daughters. She refused to believe that this was all a coincidence.

"I apologize if I am overstepping bounds, but what exactly is the current debacle, Councilors?" Liara asked, keeping her face neutral and serene. She had learned with politicians that small facial movements often gave them idea's about who was in control of the conversation.

"We cannot say, Dr. T'Soni. You will find out soon enough, but I mean to address the message that you just received from Councilor Tevos. I trust it said something to the effect of 'you must come here now'?" Councilor Cooper said, a knowing look on his face. Liara simply nodded, urging the councilor to continue speaking.

"Dr. T'Soni, whatever you do, _do not_ come to the Citadel. If anything was said in the message about capital punishment or council decree, it is false. Once again. Do not come to the Citadel, Dr. T'Soni." Councilor Cooper warned, his face getting hard and serious.

This was bad. Such discord in the Council only meant bad things for the galaxy at large. As the top of the ruling cadre in the Milky Way, the Council was the beating heart of politics. If they were squabbling amongst themselves, it was bad news. She silently wondered just what sort of force was driving the Council into measures such as this. Whatever it was, it had to be powerful.

"So am I to just...ignore that message? How long am I supposed to stay away?" She asked, genuinely concerned. There were many things that she could achieve on the Citadel in regards to further projects and other things.

"You will know, Dr. T'Soni. Forgive me as I cannot explain right now, but your entire world is about to change." Cooper said before disconnecting the call. Liara leaned back, her hands twined in her lap. Her world was about to change? How it could change more than it already has in the past few days she wasn't sure.

Shaking off the brief and odd meeting she had with the two Councilors, she turned back to her terminal, and back to the message from Councilor Tevos. It still disturbed her that the Council was in this kind of disarray. She closed the message and put it aside, deciding to resume her search for her children.

"Dr. T'Soni, you have received another message." Glyph said in his robotic monotone. Liara massaged her temples as she looked at the drone in slight annoyance.  
"Glyph, you don't need to tell me every time I receive a message." She said, an edge in her voice. The drone turned to her with his one eye. "It was sent from downstairs." He replied. Liara went through her inbox again with a sigh. The message popped up, from Caius.

_Received this message from Talon this morning. Was going to tell you while you ate, but you seemed to be in a rush:_

_T'Soni daughters on Horizon, with Paloma T'Nirra. Tracking them through Discovery. Will make contact soon._

He found them! Dear Goddess, he found them! Liara quickly closed the message and went through her contacts, finding which ones were on Horizon. She rifled off several messages to three contacts on the planet, contracting them to find any news of asari children arriving.

After that, she dug through the traffic database for Discovery, the capital of Horizon. Mostly, the logs were filled by constant shuttles to and from the New Grissom Academy. Rebuilding the academy had been the first of many achievements that Liara hoped to make during the galactic reconstruction.

However, most shuttles were at set times, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. While looking through them, there was one lone shuttle heading down to the port that was unscheduled. Next to that entry was the name of the person who authorized the departure: Paloma T'Nirra. Odd. She wasn't aware that Nivia had any siblings.

She rolled her chair over to another monitor and clicked through to the Thessian Galactic Census. A database containing the personal information of every living asari. Legally born of course, but the T'Nirra's were a Thessian family. She searched the name Paloma T'Nirra and found...nothing. There was no entry into the database under that name. Liara backed out and searched again, this time for the name T'Nirra.

There were almost fifteen names, but only three entries under that name with birth dates that matched Nivia's. The other two were Nenin T'Nirra and Perin T'Nirra. Odd. Perin T'Nirra was in the database, but Paloma was not...she had an idea and rolled back to her main terminal.

"Glyph, hack into the employment database for New Grissom Academy. Find Paloma T'Nirra and put it on my screen." She said.

"Yes, Dr. T'Soni" The drone answered evenly. A moment later, a profile popped up, but it was not for Paloma. It was for Perin T'Nirra. All the information matched what was in the census. Scrolling through the profile, she saw a special request to the academy.

It seemed that when she was first hired, Perin T'Nirra changed her name to Paloma and wrote it off so the academy would pay for it. Didn't make sense because a name change wasn't really that expensive. However, just this information could help Talon.

She bolted out of the office and downstairs. Finding the kitchen empty, she rushed around the house searching for the others. Soon, she found them out on the rear balcony overlooking the forests.

"Caius! What's Talon's omni address?" She asked breathlessly. The turian spun around in surprise. He, Garrus and Tali were standing at the railing, drinking cocktails. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

"He doesn't like correspondence, Liara. He only updates. Never replies." He said with a shrug. Liara wasn't about to take that as an answer. She stomped up to the turian, grabbed his cocktail and hurled it into the trees.

"I have information for him, and I need to speak to him _now_." She growled. Caius stared at her, searching her eyes for something. Finally, he relented. He clicked through his omni before walking back towards the house.

"I just forwarded his address to you. Don't be surprised if he doesn't answer. He's never answered for me." He said over his shoulder. Liara checked her omni and found the address there. She quickly thanked him and rushed back to her office.

When she arrived back, she quickly dialed the address. Things were silent for a seond or two and then the ring began. Maybe she was afraid of Caius' warning, but she was relieved to just hear it ringing. It rang for several minutes before finally, the sound of someone answering came in.

"Who is this?" It was definitely Talon. That voice was unmistakeable.

"Talon. It's Liara. I got your message. Have you seen my daughters?" She asked. Initially, she was going to just relay the information and get off, but she couldn't resist asking about them.

"Not seen them. Getting close. I know where they are. Planning an extraction. What information do you have?" He asked. While Liara wasn't appreciative of the quick choppy phrases Talon seemed to be so partial to, she was relieved to know that he was so close.

"Paloma T'Nirra is not her real name. It's Perin T'Nirra. It was changed at her request through the Academy. She is an instructor there." She said with satisfaction, glad that she had helped in some way at all.

"Good to know. Your daughters are on the station itself. Searching for a way on." He answered. Liara shot to attention in her chair. Her daughters were on the station? Perfect!

"I have a way. I will message you soon with a meeting place and a contact. Stay where you are." She ordered before cutting the call. Quickly, she clicked through the terminal and found Miranda available for vid comm. She dialed the elder Lawson sister and turned to face the large screen. The call rang for only a moment before the beautiful doctor answered.

"Liara! What a pleasure." Miranda said cheerfully. She was in a white walled room with quite a few machines, like a hospital room. On the bed behind her lay Jack, dressed in nothing but loose clothing. Liara fought a blush as she thought about what she might have done.

"Didn't interrupt anything, did I?" She ventured, watching Jack roll her eyes in the background.

"I wish! Dr. Rulebook over here won't do anything until my leg is healed." Jack called. Miranda walked back and sat on the bed next to Jack, smacking a kiss onto her cheek. Liara knew about their relationship, as Miranda had confided in her a long time ago.

"Your leg? Did something happen?" Liara asked, concern ringing in her voice. She knew that Jack had a unique way of teaching students that landed her with injuries at times, but as far as she knew the ex mercenary had been injury free since two years ago.

"Got warped out. Only fractured it." Jack answered with a goofy grin and lifting her leg. It was wrapped in a light bluish silver bio cast. The new bio casts, an invention of a salarian and asari doctor team, were equipped with special nutrients that accelerated bone growth without sacrificing bone strength in the healing bone.

"Are you allowed to walk?"

Miranda nodded. "Yes. She's going to be discharged in a few minutes actually."

"And guess who gets to dress me!" Jack cheered next to her. Miranda smacked the tattooed professor on the head with a scolding look, but Liara saw the blush on her cheeks. The elder Lawson whispered something to Jack, and her grin only got wider. Liara was certain that Jack was just given some type of motivating goal.

"Now that Jack is done being crude, what can we do for you, Liara?" Miranda asked, looking back at the camera. Jack also looked genuinely interested. The asari leaned back in her chair.

"Have you two heard about my daughters?" She asked. Both Miranda and Jack shook their heads, but Liara knew they hadn't. If they had, it would have been topic number one when Miranda answered.

XXX

"Jack, you didn't have to come." Miranda said as they walked slowly through Discovery. It had been a couple of hours since their talk with Liara, and it had been a tough chat. Both of them were stunned and angry when Liara told them about the drell assassin, then about her commando selling out and helping with the kidnapping of her daughters.

When they asked what they could do, Liara seemed to brighten. She said that she has someone looking for her kids, and that they were close. She wanted them to meet her contact and help them get onto the New Grissom station, to which the both of them had agreed immediately.

Liara gave them the coordinates and the meeting time, saying that the contact when know them when they arrived. Now, late in the evening, the two of them were heading to a bar in one of them more rundown sections of the capital.

"Bullshit, Mi. I'm not going to let you have all the fun, besides, you heard Liara say that I should probably go with you. Not sure why, but it doesn't matter. We break the law, we do it together." Jack replied. She did have the bio cast, but she still kept pace with Miranda as they walked. Jack absolutely hated being a burden, so she practically didn't know how to take things slow.

When she stepped down an incline in the concrete, Jacks leg buckled. Miranda managed to catch her injured lover before she fell all the way, holding Jack close while she regained the control of her leg.

"Lets just walk arm in arm, love. Really. You'll hurt yourself." She said. Jack shook her head, a defiant scowl on her face.

"We can't do that, Mi, you know that." She muttered, despite hating it. Miranda liked her privacy, something Jack completely respected, but it really sucked that they could barely even touch each other in public for fear of someone being nosy.

"We're in a slum, Jack. I'm sure it will be fine." Miranda said, slight scold in her voice. Before waiting for an answer, she wrapped her arm around Jack's waist. By reflex, Jack immediately put an arm around Miranda's shoulders, pulling her close than she had been before. "Feel better?" She asked. Jack nodded in glee. It did feel better, and she could also take a good amount of pressure off her leg. She would never admit it, but she was in pretty hardcore pain.

Jack checked the coordinates on her omni. "We're still a good way away. Let's get moving." She said, in a much better mood. It was probably artificial, but it was a better mood nonetheless. They walked together, arm in arm, for the first time in a long time. They hadn't done this since the last vacation for the kids.

Usually, the could only indulge themselves publicly like this on vacations during the year for the kids. Whenever there was a break for a few days, her and Miranda would go see Oriana on the Citadel and spend a few days wrapped in each others arms. Usually Oriana had to threaten them with allowing the paparazzi in to get them to get out of bed. Mostly Jacks fault, but not that Miranda complained.

The closer they got to this bar, the rougher things got around them. The housing got more degraded. The people they saw were dirtier and shadowy, most of them homeless. Jack caught more than a few guys ogling Miranda, and no doubt Miranda caught some ogling her. It was the natural curse of being sexy.

They got to the bar and were about to head in when a big fat fucker stepped in front of them. Easily the width of the door itself, he smelled of booze and something else that Jack really didn't wish to know about.

"Out of the way dude." She said harshly, jumping back into bad ass Jack bandit mode. She wasn't actively a bandit anymore, but that didn't mean she forgot how to do it. The fat ass simply leaned forward, bringing his stench ever closer to them.

"Two lovebirds on a stroll? Think you might be lost..." He chuckled, his breath smelling like he had eaten something that had been dead for way too long. All around them, other gross men started to show up, cracking knuckles and the clinking of chains coming from behind and to the left side.

"Listen jackass, get lost before you get hurt." Miranda snapped. That was one of Jacks nice achievements so far with Miranda Lawsom: A rude edge when she needed it. She didn't try to threaten with scientific jargon that nobody understood anymore.

"You? Hurt me? I don't think so, hot stuff, but..." He paused for a moment and grabbed his crotch. "I think I have something that could hurt you. Want to play this easy or not?"

Miranda just stared at him. Jack knew that this group couldn't really do anything to them under normal circumstances, but she was injured. Not bad enough to limit biotics, but bad enough to limit mobility and when fighting something that was almost as big as a krogan, mobility was key.

She was about to say something snappy when a sound she knew very well came from behind them. The cocking of a gun. Whipping her head around, Jack almost shit her pants. Standing there, with two Carnifex pistols aimed at them, was Talon. Fucking Talon. The most dangerous, and most mysterious, merc in the galaxy. Bar none.

"Get lost. The women are mine." His voice was a deep, gravelly, grating sound that was hard on the ears. He wore his trademark blue armor with the tendrils of green, the plates only showing small pieces of leather under suit at his joints.

The fat ass and his men practically melted away into the alleys and streets, running as fast as their legs could carry them. Jack gripped Miranda hard against her. Talon might have been the very essence of death in the mercenary world, but she would give him the fight of a lifetime if he thought he could take advantage of them.

"What do you want with us?" Miranda asked, Jack feeling her grip tighten as well. While she was not an active merc for almost six years after the Reaper War, but Miranda still knew who Talon was. She still knew the danger they were in.

"Jack and Miranda Lawson. Liara T'Soni sent me." He said, holstering both pistols and letting his arms fall to his sides. Jack's mouth dropped as wide as a shuttle hatch.

"Talon!? You're Liara's contact? How the fuck did Liara contract _you_?" She demanded in amazement. She knew that Liara had money. That Liara had a history as an illegal information broker. Hell, knew that Liara had _been_ the Shadow Broker for a few years. But to have the reach to find Talon to look for her daughters...she didn't pull any punches on this one.

"Can you get me onto the station?"

Miranda, who appeared to still be on edge as much as Jack was, nodded once. "Yes. We can get you on under the guise of being a relative of one of us. We'll be arriving at a staff docking bay, so you will not be scanned." She said. Talon cocked his head to the side. For a few minutes, he was silent. Jack slowly began to relax, allowing the warp she had in her hand since Talon appeared fade.

"Fine. I will disappear once I'm on the station. You will not hear from me again." He said, setting off walking back the way that Jack and Miranda had come. They began following him closely and silently. The entire walk back to their shuttle at the spaceport took all of a half hour. They waited wordlessly for the pilot to arrive, and once he did the shuttle set off towards the station.

Jack, who had been watching the mercenary intently, cleared her throat quite pointedly. Both Miranda and Talon looked up at her. Her hard eyes bore into Talon's visual sensory strip. "When you are on my station, check your trigger finger. Those kids are my family; I don't care how dangerous you are, if you hurt any of them, even a _scratch_, I will tear you apart." She said, her voice signaling no argument. Talon simply stared at her before nodding slightly and drawing his two pistols. Jack sat up in her chair, getting ready to cast a barrier should the merc start shooting. To her and Miranda's surprise, Talon spun the pistols in his hands and caught them by the barrels.

"I won't need them." He said, placing them into Jack's lap.

* * *

**Holy shit, he found them! And what a horrible day for Liara! Until she rebooted her network of course. Never underestimate the power of feeling useful, people! **

**As I said above, the next chapter is delicious. Poignant. Emotional. And a glimpse into the future for one of our heroes. Look forward to that!**


	12. Ghosts Shall Rise

**Well this is it guys. Reunification. I know you all have been looking forward to it and so have I. I hope you enjoy it! It's a long one!**

* * *

The next day, Miranda was on edge through all her morning classes. Nothing seemed to be amiss, and nobody had said anything about seeing a man in blue armor walking around. Talon had said that he would disappear once he got to the station, but for some reason Miranda still thought that he would be walking around in that armor.

"Tyla, stop talking back there!" She barked. Her older students, the youngest being nineteen, were currently doing an assignment about the history of biotics in medicine, something she decided to give them so she could think. It was one thing to smuggle someone onto the station. It was entirely another to smuggle a dangerous mercenary onto the station.

To add stuff to her plate, she had been reminded that morning that today was an important day. Every month, a week is picked and for those seven days parents who were hoping to send their kids to Grissom came to tour the school. She, along with Professors T'Nirra, Utilo, Tyson and Jack were stopping points along an informational tour. The tours took all day, so each one had a decent amount of parents.

Seeing as she was injured, Jack was the first person they would speak to in a large conference room. She would explain the history and goals of Grissom, along with funding and financial aid. She would explain the curriculum in a very general overview, then the parents would move on to Utilo and Tyson who showed them around student living quarters and station amenities, such as a free vid comm service that was always open to the kids.

Once done there, the parents would come to her in her classroom for a much more precise look at the curriculum. She would tell them exactly how the kids would be taught, how often they could go home, and how injuries are handled from practicals.

Once they were finished with her, they finished the day with Paloma. There were two types of practicals at Grissom. On planet and off planet. The off planets took place on the station itself and most often were things like stasis, singularity and barrier practice.

Paloma was the on station practical professor, and was very proud of it. She took every chance to rub it in Jack's face that she was, which made absolutely no sense to Miranda. Jack was the on planet practical professor, training the kids in warps, shock waves, pushes and combinations. Jack told Miranda all the time that Paloma was obsessed with her and wanted to, as she said it, 'Rip your fine ass out of those clothes'. Ridiculous.

She slammed her hands on her desk and shot to her feet. "Tyla! What is so important that you have to talk about it in my class?" She asked sternly. The asari girl in question looked back at her with apologetic eyes.

"Sorry, Dr. Lawson. It's just about those new students. We've all heard that they are crazy powerful already, and they're only little kids." She said. Miranda cocked an eyebrow at her. New students? Since when?

"What new students?" She asked curiously. Tyla's face dropped in surprise and she quickly looked around at her classmates before looking back at her teacher.

"You mean you don't know? Dr. T'Nirra told us about these new girls that are starting this week. Apparently, they could already beat Professor Jack in a fight and pass the on planet practicals no problem." She said. Miranda's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. She noticed that this rumor only involved the new prodigies acing Jack's material.

"Is it really that easy to ace Jack's stuff?" Another girl asked. The room began to buzz with murmurs and questions. A human girl in the second row turned around. "Well, you know Jack is teaching us using Dr. T'Nirra's lessons. She isn't nearly as strong as Paloma." She said with a glitter filled stare into space.

Tyla glared at her. "Jack is the most powerful biotic on the entire station, Jenny, so watch it!"

On the other side of the room, a boy shushed them. "Dr. Lawson, you and Jack fought together with Commander Shepard didn't you?" He asked. Miranda nodded proudly.

"Yes we did. Against the Collectors." She answered. She left out the part where they were working for Cerberus. Her students didn't need that kind of thing working away at their minds.

"Why don't you give us an example of how strong Jack is?" He proposed. At that thought, all the other conversations in the room stopped and the students had their eyes focused intently on their teacher.

Miranda sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Don't you kids worry about who is powerful and who isn't." She replied. She turned to head back to her desk when the human girl Jenny started talking again. "Oh. Well, Dr. T'Nirra told us how she blew apart a merc tank when an asari colony was attacked. Doubt Jack could do that." She bragged, her voice ringing with praise for the asari professor. Miranda was started to see that maybe Jack had a point. Everything T'Nirra said and did had something to do with either Jack being pathetic, her being better than Jack or how Jack's lessons were laughable. It was almost...immature.

Nevertheless, she could not let this farce go on. She turned slowly to face Jenny and the rest of the class. She massaged her temples and sighed. Kids, mainly teenagers, were so prone to influence and rumors.

"Rumors are rumors. Nobody is more powerful that anyone else on this station. This conversation is over. Back to your work. I will be back shortly." She commanded sternly, heading towards the hallway. Once outside, she quickly dialed her omni.

"What's up?" Jack said as she answered. The parents were just leaving her and heading to Tyson and Utilo. Chances were that Jack was headed up to her classroom to teach her shock wave intro class. "Hey, have you heard about new students?" Miranda asked quickly.

"New students? No..." Jack trailed off, probably thinking about if she had heard something but forgotten. "No, I haven't Mi. Where did you hear this?"

"Tyla. Apparently someone told the kids about some powerful new students. I was seeing if you had heard." She admitted with a sigh of relief. She was hoping that it was just a rumor and that she hadn't missed an important email or anything. Even though that would be crazy. Miranda's organization skills were perfect.

"Tyla is a gossip. A talented girl, but a gossip. Don't worry about it." Jack said reassuringly. Miranda tried to keep it at the back of her mind, but she had to ask.

"This can't be coincidence, love. Have you seen Talon?" She asked, chewing on a fingernail. She heard a door shut on the other end of the call. Jack had just arrived at her classroom.

"Babe, relax. If the rumors are about the T'Soni girls, then they won't be students here. Not for long anyway. As for Talon, he said we wouldn't see him again. I doubt we'll even know when he takes Vasha and Imali home. Just go about your day like we didn't smuggle a dangerous mercenary onto the station last night."

"That isn't helping, but I see your point. How were the new parents?" She asked, deciding to take her loves advice and not think about Talon and the T'Soni girls.

"Small group. Five couples. Big news there though There is a turian couple."

"Really?" Miranda asked. Turians, as a race, were militaristic and orderly to a fault. Despite that, turian biotics were rare. When a child showed biotic ability, they were immediately cloistered away in a special boot camp for biotics. Usually, they went through the same training as any other child, but much more specialized. They had taught a single turian child on the station since it was founded, but his parents, namely his father, had removed him in favor of traditional military training on Palaven.

"Interesting. Mostly asari and human couples then?"

"No actually. Only one human asari couple. The three others are all asari." Being a biotic school, human and asari children made up the majority of the student body. No krogan had ever been to the station, and salarians had virtually no biotic offspring.

"Pureblood children? That's interesting." She said absently. Jack laughed through the call. "The heart gets what the heart wants, Mi. We of all people should know that." Miranda smiled as she thought about the first nights that her Jack spent together after they realized their love for each other. She fought her blushing face as she said her goodbyes to Jack and went back into the classroom, where the students were still chatting away.

"Are you kids still talking about Jack?" She questioned sarcastically. She could talk about Jack all day, but her students had work to do. Tyla and the boy she was talking avidly to burst out laughing.

"What are you two laughing about?" A boy asked, casting an annoyed glance at the girls. It just so happened that he sat in between them and was often caught in their conversations and laughing fits, though he tried to ignore them.

"Oh nothing. Just how Kellen wants to take Professor Jack to Midyear Formal." Tyla giggled, glancing over at the boy in question. Kellen was undoubtedly the jock popular guy among the older students at the academy.

"What do you mean wants? _Is_ taking Professor Jack to Midyear Formal!" He declared, crossing his arms over his chest as more than half the class looked on him in awe. Miranda watched him in amusement, almost hoping that he would ask Jack to go with him. Kellen was on her shit list, and Jacks.

Over the course of the school year at Grissom, the older student population, numbering maybe a few hundred over three age groups, had three dances called Formals. Dawn Formal, Midyear and Night Formal. It was one of things that the new academy had taken to doing to make students better enjoy themselves at Grissom.

Recently, the Formals had become a competition on who could bring the coolest date. On more than a few occasions, both Miranda and Jack had been asked to a Formal, but neither accepted any proposals. Not due to any type of jealousy or mistrust, but the boys tended to get...handsy at Formals. Jack didn't want to warp an innocent student on reflex.

Before this years Dawn Formal, Miranda spoke to a girl who had been at the academy for a few years already but she was extremely shy. It was going to be her first Formal, and she wasn't sure how to ask someone to go, so she came to Miranda for advice. Once she received it, she went out on a limb and asked Kellen to go with her.

At first, he said yes. She was ecstatic. The next day at a monthly assembly, he handed out a very public, very humiliating and hurtful denial. The poor girl, a human named Morgan, was shattered by it. After watching her run out of the auditorium, Jack and Miranda made a plan to get back at the students.

The faces on every other student and, most of all, Kellens were priceless when Dawn Formal came. The dance had already started, and both Jack and Miranda were present when the glowing Morgan walked in on the arm of one Garrus Vakarian, dressed in full turian military regalia.

For Morgan, it was the time of her life. Garrus danced with her, told off Kellen and walked up when Morgan inevitably won the coolest date contest. To add more fun to it, Garrus, Miranda and Jack got to reminisce over far too much alcohol afterward. It was fun, but Miranda swore to never drink that much again.

"I wonder if Morgan is going to bring another hero this time. It was so cool have Mr. Vakarian here!" Tyla said gleefully. Miranda rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers.

"Alright, enough. Finish your work. You behave yourselves until the end of class and I won't give you homework." She said. The students immediately whirled around and set back to their work. Miranda sat back down at her desk and started to go over the talk she would have when the touring parents arrived to see her.

* * *

"How often are the students tested here?" An asari parent asked. Miranda smiled as she spoke. "Testing takes place in two phases. Most tests will be written, and those are at the discretion of the teacher, whoever that may be. Practical tests are only given once the student has shown excellent proficiency with whatever it is they are being tested for. Practicals are _always_ given by either Professor Jack or Dr. T'Nirra and under controlled circumstances. At no point is a student ever in danger." She answered. She had been talking to the parent tour for almost an hour, and it had been quite pleasant. The turian couple were surprisingly laid back and accepting of the academy, and even had a wonderful sense of humor.

"I have to ask, Dr. Lawson...but is Professor Jack...uh...safe around the kids?" Asked a tall asari sitting near the front of the room. Her human wife, sitting next to her, rolled her eyes. "You're going overboard." She said with a glance at the asari. The asari turned and swatted her, saying something about being rude to the teacher.

"Professor Jack is, in my opinion, the best professor we have here. All her students respond extremely well to her unorthodox teaching style. Instead of sitting around with a teacher like me, the students feel like they are spending time with friends in Jack's classes." Miranda answered with a wide smile. It was something that she had learned how to do working with Cerberus. A smile was easy.

The human woman waved her arms at her. "See? Everything will be fine, cut the umbilical cord." She sighed in exasperation. Miranda had to admit that she was a beautiful woman. She wore a pair of jeans and a tight brown turtleneck. Her long red hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail and she wore sapphire studded earrings.

The tall asari cast a furious glance at her wife. Miranda couldn't help but stifle a chuckle. She had given that exact same stare to Jack on more than a few occasions. She knew what it meant too. Shut up or you are in serious trouble. The human set her violet eyes in a defiant stare straight back.

_What an interesting couple_. Miranda thought, watching them in amusement. The love between those two was adorable. Obviously, the asari was an overly concerned mother with letting her child out of her sight, and the human was not the babying type. It must have been an intense courtship for those two opposites.

"Excuse me, Mrs..." Miranda began. The human and asari paused their staring contest to look back at her.

"Draga. My name is Draga. Jessica is my wife." The asari said with a wide smile, elbowing her wife, the human throwing out a quick smile.

"Well Draga, you have nothing to worry about here. You daughter will be to contact you via the free vid comm service at any time, and the academy pays for students to go home if there are extenuating circumstances." She said. The asari clasped her hands together, looking much more excited than she had been before. The door opened and a younger asari walked in and sat down next to the human.

"Your mother is losing her mind, Kira." She said to the daughter, who rolled her eyes in exasperation. Draga cast another scathing glance at her wife, and a possible even more intense stare at her daughter. Miranda shook her head in amusement as she took another question.

Before long, it was time for the parents to move on. On their way out, Draga and her wife Jessica stopped to talk and introduce their daughter to Miranda.

"She is a good girl, but gets distracted easily." Draga said, watching her girl look at the textbooks on the desks. She was so engrossed that she didn't hear her mother calling her to come say hi to the teacher.

"Kira! Stop counting the words on the page and come here!" Jessica barked. The girl jumped in surprise, dropping the book as she stared wide eyed at who Miranda assumed was the father. She came over with a sheepish look on her face.

"Sorry...hi, I'm Kira." She mumbled. Miranda nodded her head at the bashful girl. "A pleasure to meet you! I hope you'll get the chance to join us here at Grissom!" She said animatedly. The girl nodded and retreated behind her mother. Jessica rolled her eyes at her daughter.

"Girl is as smart as a salarian, but shy. Takes after her mother in that regard." She said. Despite the woman's tough exterior, she could see love in the eyes with which she looked at her daughter. She thanked them for coming and directed the family towards Paloma's meeting room for the last stop on their tour.

She watched the two adults go, bickering like a family should. "Sorry about them..." Miranda whipped around and found Kira still standing there behind her. She cocked an eyebrow at the shy daughter.

"What's there to be sorry about?" She asked.

Kira shrugged. "Well, mom is a teacher for little kids, and dad was a soldier. They're kinda opposites, but they mean well. Dad's on my side though; want's mom to let me go and see the galaxy." She said, watching her parents along with Miranda.

"They just have your best interests at heart. No parent is ever comfortable with their child being away from them. I think your father may be a bit more concerned than you think." She said with a wink. Kira smiled shyly at her, clasping her hands in front of herself.

"Can...can you tell me about Commander Shepard? I know that you fought with her, and she's such a hero to me." She asked bashfully. Miranda couldn't help but coo inside. This asari girl was so adorably innocent.

She playfully sighed. "I guess. Come on you. Make sure to send a message to your mother so she doesn't lose her mind."

"Just my mom?" She asked with a small grin. Miranda waved over her shoulder. "Your dad doesn't look like the type to lose her cool. I'll buy you lunch and we can talk there." Miranda finished, beginning to walk towards the cafeteria. Kira quickly fell into step behind her.

XXX

Hun Stryd stood in the large meeting room at Scythe's, staring at a table monitor. On it stood Captain Vega, his team and about forty children, mostly asari, but some human and salarian as well. Strange, because salarian children were rarely allowed off Sur'Kesh. They were huddled in the hanger bay of the Dagger.

"What exactly am I looking at here, Captain?" He asked. He had a feeling when he sent his team on this mission that there would be rescued hostages, but forty children was not what he had envisioned would be those hostages.

"Children that we found aboard the carrier. They keep talking about a mean lady and a school. Also something about two little asari girls who were taken shortly before we got there." James replied.

Hun nodded his large head and grabbed his ryncol. "I see...and the carrier itself?" He asked expectantly. James shuffled his feet and cast a glance at his team. Obviously he had not been able to take control of the carrier from Revenant.

"I see...and, if you have not finished the mission...why have you evacuated?" This was bad news. Stryd needed loyalty from his people, not idealism. To keep things moving smoothly, he required that his tasks be completed, and in a timely fashion.

"Er...it was my fault. I tried to evac the kids before mission was completed, Stryd." The medic, Ching, said, having stepped up to the monitor. Stryd rubbed his eyes with a deep sigh. "Why?" Idealism. Pathetic.

"Stryd, they're kids! Some of them don't even look ten years old! Who knows when they ate last an-"

"That is not the point, Ching!" Stryd roared, exploding from his chair. "Mission objectives come first. Period. Nothing else. You were to take that carrier from Revenant. Did you do that?"

"No, b-"

"There is nothing else! Mission failure! Revenant will undoubtedly move their operations! You were to take that carrier for the intel it provided!" Stryd yelled at the screen. Behind Ching, he could see the children shuffling and backing away from the monitor that was in the hanger bay. The medic herself looked awestruck, but soon recovered.

"We can get intel from anywhere, but they could have died there!" She said back defiantly, her eyes burning. Stryd stared back, furious that his carefully acquired intel had been utterly wasted.

"Ching, it took me nine months and seventeen dead agents to come across the intel that led you to that carrier!" He snarled. He drew his face as close as he could to the screen. "You better fucking hope that carrier is still there, and if it is, you better take it!" He whispered angrily before severing the connection.

He slumped back in his chair, rubbing his head. The chances that the carrier was still there were zero. The intel stated that the carrier moved every day, and not just a little. It usually moved systems, dumping drive cores at uncharted planets and leaving almost no trail to follow.

After stealing it from Morlan II last year, Revenant had used it almost as a mobile operations base. Planting his agents had been time consuming, and as he said to Ching, deadly. Seventeen had lost their lives trying to get intel on the travel path the carrier would use.

The door to the room opened and Mansa walked in. Behind her were a few turians and a human, all bearing the yellow armor and severed head insignia of Revenant. "What is the meaning of this?" Stryd demanded, a hand dropping to his side.

Under his chair, a specialized Claymore was strapped. It fired inferno rounds that exploded upon contact. Mansa might be injured if he fired it, but he will not risk these mercs getting out of control. If he needed to, he wouldn't hesitate.

"They insisted on speaking with you. At gunpoint." Mansa said, her voice not shaky, but Stryd could hear the fear in it. He turned a hard eye on the human, obviously in charge on account of his wearing a suit and not armor.

"What do you want?" He grunted. The human snapped his fingers, and one of the turians handed him a datapad. The human clicked through it, then gave it to Mansa. She walked over to Stryd slowly, and handed it to him.

"We want you, krogan." He said, gesturing at the pad. "I'm sure you will find our terms perfect." He snickered. Stryd frowned disapprovingly as he looked down at the pad. It was a contract. Quickly, he scanned through the contents finding nothing in the form of information there. His mind rushed through a calculation before he plastered a wide grin on his face.

"That they are, human. Come, you and your men may sit. Mansa! Fetch them our finest liquor!" He yelled, snapping his own fingers. The human grinned, as did his men and they each took a seat while Mansa went out to fetch their drinks. Most of the rooms in Scythe had a personal bar in it, but this specific room did not.

"So, tell me. How does an emerging titan like Revenant look into a lowly lounge hound like myself?" He asked, drinking from his ryncol. The human man laughed.

"It is not your fault that you have no purpose in life. Revenant simply offers you a chance to find one. We understand that you fought in the Battle for Palaven and the Battle for Earth?" He said, an arrogant smile marring his features.

Stryd nodded. "Oh yes. I was in the first wave when Hammer hit London. I was one of only thirty men to survive from that first wave." He replied. It was the truth. He had fought under Urdnot Grunt on Palaven, and under Urdnot Wrex at London. He still remembers watching Commander Zaia Shepard rush the Citadel beam.

"So, you have plenty of combat experience. Revenant is in need of a new Lieutenant. I'm sure you know Talon?" He asked. The door opened and Mansa walked in carrying a tray with five glasses on it, four with a D engraved in it. These glasses were used for quarians and turians.

Stryd burst into a rumbling laughter. "Talon? Who hasn't heard of Talon? Winner of the most recent Zande on Tuchanka and the most dangerous merc in the galaxy." He rumbled. Talon really was a menace and a mystery all wrapped into one.

Normally, a merc who established himself as the most dangerous in the galaxy would be far more public with his life. Talon only appeared once or twice every few months, terrorizing the galaxy for a few weeks before disappearing again. Bounty hunters had tried fruitlessly to take the demon down, but none even got close.

Stryd himself had tried to contact the mercenary once. He actually got to speak to him for a few minutes. He was asking the merc if he would do some work for Scythe. The answer was yes, but the price was a definite deal breaker. Talon was a rich bastard if people really paid him several million credits a job.

"Yes, well Talon forced one of our Lieutenants to give away some valuable information. He is...not with us any longer. We need a new one, and you fit the bill perfectly." The human said, accepting his glass for Mansa. The four turians already had their glasses. Mansa bowed to them and left.

Stryd held up his mug. "To Revenant, and to the new galaxy!" He toasted loudly. The turians and the human said their cheers and downed their drink. Seconds later, five heads banged onto the table. Mansa returned to the room, shaking her head.

"Why do you want these idiots? We should have killed them." She complained, going around the unconscious mercs and taking guns and grenades. Stryd snapped the datapad in half and threw it into a garbage bin by the door.

"The human is what I want. He has information. I'm going to get it out of him. Take him downstairs. Can't have anyone hearing him. Dump the turians outside C-Sec. I'm sure Commander Bailey will enjoy the present." He said, leaving the room in search of more ryncol. Revenant was desperate for more bodies.

Stryd had fought on Earth, yes, but not in the first wave of Hammer. He was a planner for Urdnot Wrex, organizing squadrons of krogan for concentrated strikes against sensitive Reaper positions. He had not set boot on Palaven in his entire life, and he never planned to.

The group was probably going by the book on this. More bodies equals more power. Whoever ran the group was a rookie, but a dangerous one. He had heard a rumor that Revenant was responsible for the kidnapping of Vasha and Imali T'Soni. If news of that had not reached Zaia's ear yet, it soon would, and when it did, the Council better start trembling.

He dialed Zaia's omni, just to check. As expected, it just rang and rang. The dead spectre rarely answered when he called, and even more rarely called him back. She was probably off on another Council hit. That hit might be on Thessia though, if the message to Draga he saw was anything to go by.

He tapped himself some ryncol and sat down at the bar, a scowl on his face. Things today had been less than thrilling, to say the least. Ching and her stupidity, then Revenant and their stupidity, then the Council and their stupidity. With so much stupidity going around, he would have to be the one to take advantage of it all.

The Council's unfortunate situation was almost amusing. The fools had been playing their personal war games with Zaia for years, never thinking that someone would have the quads to harm the T'Soni family. Now someone had, and he truly wished that he could have been in the room when they were told about it.

It wasn't nearly so bad for all of them. Sparatus was a dead turian walking, no matter how things went down. If he were still alive himself, Valern would be a dead man. Tevos was a bit of a gray area. He knew that Zaia had a thing for asari, but Tevos was on the Council. Whatever they did to keep Shepard in line, she agreed to it.

Councilor's Cooper and Huuru were probably in the clear, as far as being murdered that is. Both of them were only just elected, and as such had no part in Shepard's chaining. If Shepard decided to kill them for carrying on the farce, then they were fucked.

Things were not going as originally planned, but setbacks were, at times, unavoidable. He would need to wait and see how things played out before making his next move. Hopefully, that next move would push him into a position of power.

XXX

"Ima, wake up!" Vasha urged her twin sister, tapping the girls arm. Over the past few days, the two sisters had traveled across half the galaxy, and now someone was waiting on them.

"What's happening?" Ima asked groggily, coming up onto one elbow. The small room they were in had little in terms of furniture or decoration, but they had been given a small mattress to sleep on. The nasty asari who brought them there said that they were lucky to be T'Soni's. They weren't exactly sure what that meant.

"Someone is at the door..." Vasha whispered. Imali's eyes widened and she rolled over to face the portal, grabbing her sister's hand for comfort.

They had been put to bed by their mother an Uncle Garrus at home, and then the next thing they knew they were being carried out of the balcony doors by some strange men. The both of them were far too scared to scream, and only huddled together when they were finally put down in a ship. The ship blasted off, leaving the planet. Vasha remembered seeing the stunning beauty that was her home planet from the window.

From there, they were taken to another, much bigger ship. When the doors finally opened, the saw Headmaster T'Nirra standing there, holding out her hand. She told them that they were going to be fine, and that they had been signed up for some special school.

Some mean men with guns took them through all these hallways and finally put them in a room with a lot of other children. They said that they had all been kidnapped from their homes and brought there. Vasha and her sister made fast friends with some of the other little asari girls that were there, but then another group of armed men came and took them away again.

They were pushed and shoved through the halls back to a ship, where Headmaster T'Nirra stood with another older asari woman. Headmaster said that they were going to be alright again, and then gave something to the other woman. The other woman called herself Perin, and she said that the twins were lucky to be away from their mother.

She took this to a big space station above a planet, and in the middle of the stations night too. They were taken through the halls of this place, which really looked like their school back in Armali, and put in this small room.

"How do you know?" Imali asked quietly. Vasha poked her sister in the side of the head, drawing an annoyed swat from her twin. "I heard them! They came in with that Perin lady, and they were talking." Imali turned a half lidded eye on her sister.

"That doesn't mean that they are here for us!" She whispered. Just as she did, there was a knock on their little door. Both girls froze, unsure of what to do. Never before had someone knocked. Usually it was just opened, water and food was put down and then it was closed again.

"Should we say something?" Vasha whispered. Imali simply shook her head. Another knock, this one accompanied by a voice.

"Anyone in there?"

"Um...yes?" Vasha said slowly. Imali gripped her sisters hand harder as the handle began to turn. Then it stopped. It went back to normal again, turned, and stopped.

"Is this thing locked?" The voice asked. Imali got up and grabbed the handle, trying to open the door. It wouldn't open inside either.

"I...I think so!" She said loudly, wanting the person on the other side to hear. She heard some mumbling, then the voice came back.

"Who is at the door?" It asked. The voice sounded kind enough. Imali glanced back at her sister, holding her hands out. Vasha shrugged and flicked her head at the door.

"Um...Imali T'Soni." She said.

"Alright Imali, I want you and your sister to get as far away from the door as you can, and tell me once that's done." The voice replied. Imali quickly backed away from the door and huddled in the corner with Vasha.

"Okay!" She yelled. A moment later, a purplish blue blade rammed through the door, snapping the handle off. Vasha and Imali froze in fear, staring at it as it began to turn and cut. The blade sliced back through the door, and it was pushed open from the outside.

On the other side, standing with the purplish blade coming out of her wrist was a human woman. She was tall, had straight red hair and soft violet eyes. She wore a pair of jeans and a turtle neck. Behind her stood an asari, wearing a pretty yellow dress. She wasn't the mean one though, and she was smiling at them

The human woman held out her hand, the one the didn't have a big knife on it. "You are safe now, girls. Come one. I'm going to take you back to your mom." She said with a bright smile. The asari behind them smiled and nodded as well.

"Come one girls. We won't hurt you." She said. Vasha and Imali looked at each other, momentarily unsure of what to do. The other people said the same thing, but the human woman said that she was going to bring them back to mom. That had to be good.

Slowly, the two of them emerged from the small room. Imali reached out and placed her small hand into the humans. She felt the woman clasp her hand gently and pull her close. Vasha took the woman's other hand, having seen the large knife thing disappear. It must be one of those omni-blade things that Auntie Shiala told them about.

Imali looked over to the desk in the room. In a large seat with its back turned to them sat that Perin woman. She was staring at the wall, probably thinking about something.

They left the room calmly. The human and asari walked on either side, with the two girls in between them. There was no urgency, like when the other people took them places. It was just a calm stroll. The halls of the station were mainly empty, only a few people walking around.

"Um...who are you guys?" Imali asked, looking up at the human. The woman looked down at her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Friends. We'll have you back on Thessia by tomorrow." She said with another smile. Imali found that she was far more confident in how nice this woman was than the others.

"There's Kira." The asari woman said, pointing to another asari standing outside a cafeteria. They walked up calmly, and the girl fell into step with them. Vasha glanced over her shoulder at the girl. She looked...familiar. Shaking it off, she resumed looking straight ahead.

After a few minutes, the group of five arrived at a security checkpoint. The human woman stepped up to the counter and shared a few hushed words with the security guard. She pulled something out of her jeans pocket, then pointed to Imali and her sister.

The guard nodded and allowed them through, bypassing the checkpoint completely. After a few more minutes, they arrived at a big hanger where there were ships. They arrived at a shuttle and, once again the human talked quietly to the pilot, who was a salarian.

The salarian nodded after a moment and the side of the shuttle opened. They all got in and the pilot took off from the station. "When did you girls last eat or drink anything?" The human woman asked. The twins looked at each other for a moment.  
"A few hours ago we got some fruit and water, but that's all." Vasha replied. As if on cue, Imali's stomach growled and gurgled, loud enough for all to hear. She immediately flushed a deep shade of pink, hugging her stomach. The human woman smiled at her.

"When we get down to the planet, Draga will take you to eat." She said. Vasha only nodded, but Imali spoke up.

"Where are you going?" She asked, her eyes wide. Vasha had seen this look before. It was the look Imali gave to someone when she was scared and only trusted them. Vasha was on the receiving end of it most of the time at school.

"I have to go for now, but you will see me again soon. Okay? Listen to Draga when we arrive on the planet." She said. Imali nodded silently and scooted a bit closer to her sister. Vasha looked over at the dress wearing asari, who the red haired woman had pointed to.

"You're Draga?" She asked. The asari nodded and smiled. "That's me. Don't worry girls. We'll get you all the food you want, and then we'll be on our way to Thessia." She said. Vasha and Imali looked at each other again, sharing a small smile. While it had been almost fun being whisked around the galaxy, they were glad that they get to go home.

* * *

"Geez, you two can pack away the food." Draga commented, looking around at all the plates of food on the table. They had been in this restaurant for almost two hours now, the two girls eating an enormous amount of food for little girls.

Vasha laughed at her. "Oh this is nothing. Grandpa can eat all of this herself and still not be even half full." She said. Imali laughed, but neglected to say anything because her mouth was full of fruit. Vasha looked away from Draga, who was really super nice, to the other member of their table.

Talon had arrived not long after they got started eating. Draga exchanged words with him quietly when he sat down. Vasha knew that this man was dangerous, because she saw him fighting her mother's commandos. He had guns too, which didn't really do much to relax her or Imali.

He had told them that their mother had asked him to find them and bring them home, and that he meant them no harm. Imali had gushed forward, asking about the nice woman from the shuttle. Talon said that they would see her later on, that she was running an errand for him.

When the bill finally came for the food, Vasha assumed that Draga would be paying for them. To her surprise, it was Talon who paid, throwing a credit chit to the waiter, who was also an asari. "How much was the food?" Imali asked shamelessly. Talon stared at her. "Almost four hundred credits."

"How much was on the chit?" Draga asked pointedly. Talon looked over at her.

"Two thousand." He grunted before getting up. Imali choked on her food when he said that. Vasha almost choked as well, but she forced the food down. Talon had given the waiter two thousand credits? The two girls grabbed what last bites they could before scurrying after Draga and Talon.

"Thanks for buying us food, Mister Talon." Vasha said shyly, nudging her sister. Imali quickly replicated the gratitude, her eyes to the ground. The man nodded silently. Draga turned to them.

"He means you're welcome." She whispered with a wink and a grin.

XXX

"Liara! _Liara!_" A bellow echoed through the house. It was Caius, who usually yelled like that to get her attention, seeing as she was always at her terminal. She bolted from her seat, knocking over the mango juice she had been drinking, and ran down the stairs. She checked the kitchen, the balcony, the living room and then finally found the others on the lower terrace.

'What is it, Caius?" She asked, coming to stand next to Garrus and Tali. Caius, who had yelled from the door, had moved to the railing, looking out over the lake.

"Message from Talon. We might want to go out front." He said, turning to her with an amused look in his eyes. Liara's own eyes widened and she darted back into the house. As she ran, she passed Na'lara in the hall.

"Get all the commandos outside immediately!" She ordered. Na'lara nodded quickly and ran off herself. Liara could barely contain herself. Why on earth would Talon tell Caius to have her outside...it had to be them. He had to have her daughters. He brought them back to her.

She arrived at the front of the estate, breathing heavily as she searched for the blue armor and little blue girls. There was nobody there though. She heard footsteps behind her and saw Caius, Garrus and Tali emerging from the mansion.

"Caius, where are they?" She asked, whipping her head back to look at the empty boulevard that was the entrance to the T'Soni estate. The turian opened his omni and read through the message.

"He said to have you out here. I'm not sure where he actually is." He replied. Behind them, commandos started to come from the house, led by Na'lara and Matriarch Aethyta. The twenty nine asari had taken the fact that Kira had betrayed them intensely hard. Even their training sessions, usually animated and exciting, were unimpressive, sluggish and depressed.

They weren't sure what to think when Liara told them that Talon had taken Kira with him. In normal situations, a commando who had done something like what Kira did would be expelled from the forces and arrested. Then at her trial the jury would all be commandos from whatever house she served in. Conviction rates were high for criminalized commandos.

As the commandos exited the house, one of them pointed past Liara. "Look!" Liara turned back to the boulevard and in the distance was a ship. It was not a skycar though. Or a shuttle. It looked almost like a frigate, but a small one.

The ship came upon the estate quickly. It was a small frigate, small enough to be able to land quite safely on the cobblestones that made up most of the boulevard. The commandos spread out instinctively, several of them lifting assault rifles and training them on the ship.

The ship powered down, and nothing happened for a few moments. Then a small hatch opened on the side, with a ramp extending down to the ground. Liara watched with baited breath when her two balls of fury rocketed out of the ship.

She ran down the stairs, tears streaming down her face. Vasha and Imali crashed into her, knocking her onto her back. Both the girls were crying as they embraced their mother. "Welcome home, my daughters!" She weeped, smothering the both of them with kisses. They returned her words with incomprehensible whimpering, but only hugged her tighter.

Garrus, Caius, Tali, Na'lara and the rest of the commandos slowly made their way down the stairs to the reunited mother and children. When Liara finally let them go and stood up, the girls were assaulted with hugs from the commandos, and another teary exchange with Tali. Garrus maintained a stern Uncle stance, but she could tell that he was more than happy to see them again.

She glanced over to the ship and noticed that two others and come out of it. Talon stood on the left, his armor perfect except for a large scratch where he protected Imali from the drell sniper. Next to him stood a young and tall asari, dressed in leathers.

She pulled her daughters to stand in front of her. Aethyta snapped her fingers, and the commandos stood in three ordered lines. Garrus and Tali stood next to Liara on her left, and Caius and Aethyta on her right.

Imali looked up at her mom, pointing at the asari standing with Talon. "That's Draga, mom! She flew the big ship!" She said, her eyes bright and shining. The pilot bowed. "Dr. T'Soni, it's a pleasure and honor to meet you." She said graciously.

Liara nodded at her. "Thank you, Draga. Thank you so much for bringing my daughters home," Liara began. The pilot nodded and smiled at her. Liara turned to Talon. "And you, Talon. Thank yo-"

"My name is not Talon." The mercenary interrupted her. His gravely voice was almost...shaky. His hands rose to the base of his helmet. From where she was standing, Liara heard the release of pressure, and the bright sensor strips on Talon's helmet went out.

The commandos around her raised assault rifles, and the glow of biotics came from both Na'lara and Aethyta. Talon's hands grasped the sides of his helmet, and he slowly lifted it off. There was a collective gasp as long red hair fell from inside the helmet. Talon, or...this person, whoever it was, pushed the hair out of the way. Another collective gasp. The notoriously dangerous mercenary Talon was a woman.

Liara fell to her knees, both her daughters and the commandos reacting in surprise. "Liara, are you alright?" Tali asked, concern ringing in her voice. Aethyta came by as well.  
"Liara, what is it?" She asked. Liara couldn't breath. The face of the mercenary was too familiar.

"It...it can't be..." She gasped, standing up with her friends help. She took a few shaky steps forward. Her hair was different. Her eyes were different, but her face...her face was the same. The way she stood. The way she held her helmet on her side. The sniper rifle on her back.

"Ho...how ar..." She tried to speak again, but the words failed her. Garrus and Tali cast concerned glances at each other. Imali and Vasha grabbed on to their grandfather. Talon dropped her helmet with a heavy bang onto the cobblestones.

The pilot, Draga, moved away and rounded to come to stand next to Aethyta, giving Talon and Liara some space. Liara continued her slow walk towards the mercenary. "Yo...they...they said you...died..." She mumbled. No matter which way she looked at the woman, she was no dream. She had to be a dream. The Council swore to her. Tevos swore that she had died. Swore that they found nothing. Not even armor pieces.

Yet here she was. Standing in front of her. She reached the mercenary, stopping a bare foot away. She even smelled the same. She reached a shaking hand out and pushed some more of the red strands out of the way.

"Z...Zaia..." She managed, her eyes staring into the violet irises that stared back at her. Her hand gently ran across Shepard's cheek, finally coming to rest against it. The mercenary closed her eyes and nuzzled into her palm, tears beginning to run down her face.

"Liara..." She said slowly, a cold metal hand wiping the tears from Liara's face. Her angelic voice flowed through Liara's ears like the sweetest music. The mercenary pulled her in, and their lips met. Her warmth was unmistakeable. Liara wrapped one arm around the mercenaries head, deepening the kiss as much as she could.

The gates opened with a rush. Liara's threw both her arms around Zaia's neck, angrily attacking the humans lips. In response, Zaia wrapped her arms around Liara's waist and lifted her off the ground, returning the asari's ferocious kiss with equal fervor.

Finally, the two of them had to gasp for air. Liara's deep breathes were mixed with light sobs. Zaia herself was crying steadily now resting her forehead against the asari's own. Liara turned her head to the side for a mere moment. "Vasha! Imali! Come here!" She called.

The two girls scampered away from their grandfather and to their mothers side. Zaia had put Liara down, and was now looking at the two girls. As soon as they reached their mother, Vasha recognized the woman.

"You! You were the one who opened the door!" She exclaimed. Imali grabbed onto her mothers legs, staring up at the red haired woman. Liara sat down onto her knees, bringing her daughters close. Zaia crouched down next to her.

"Vasha, Imali...meet your father." She said, starting to cry anew. The two girls looked at the woman in the armor, wonder in their eyes. After a minute, Imali ran into Zaia's arms, Vasha quickly following. Zaia nuzzled the two girls heads, crying along with them, her hands gently stroking their small crests. Liara added her arms and tears to the group.

The sound of running made her look up. Garrus and Tali had come over. Zaia let go of her daughters and stood up to meet them, Garrus sliding to a stop a few feet away.

"Shepard? Is that really you?" He wondered, staring at her fiercely. She smirked at the turian. "Good to see you again, Archangel." She replied.

The turian grinned and laughed. "Son of a bitch, it really is you!" He exclaimed. Tali jumped forward and threw her arms around the ex-commander. "Shepard! I can't believe it! You did survive!" She cried.

Zaia wiped her face and grinned. "Of course I did, Tali."

Liara stood next to Zaia, still in disbelief that she was alive. There were so many questions that she had, but they could wait. Vasha and Imali, still teary, clasped onto Zaia's armored legs, looking up at their father in wonder.

Garrus and Tali retreated back to the estate, as did the commandos and Matriarch Aethyta. Caius followed them, casting a glance at Zaia. She nodded quietly, knowing that she would have to speak to him later and explain things.

Zaia leaned over and gave Liara another kiss. When she left the asari's lips, she leaned in to her ear. "I will explain everything tonight." She whispered. Liara simply nodded and smiled wearily at her love. Zaia pulled her into a hug, along with the twins. Draga, standing nearby, lifted her omni and snapped a few pictures. Shepard would probably appreciate it later on.

The T'Soni family was whole once more.

* * *

**Did you enjoy it? Did your heart melt? Did it not? Do I need to work on lovey-reunion mushiness?**

**Anyhow, the next chapter or two will be jam packed with explanations and closure for Liara and you readers. Read and review and have a nice day!**


	13. I See The Moon

**Welcome, welcome, to the first chapter with the whole T'Soni family! If you have questions, then have no fear! Things will be explained here, but more shall be explained in the next chapter as well. I have your best interests at heart! And hand!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Garrus and Tali sat in the living room of the T'Soni estate, disbelief marring both their features. At least Garrus assumed that it marred Tali's under the mask, but it was all over his face. Zaia Shepard. The Hero of the Galaxy. Their Commander. Their Shepard. Their _friend_, was alive. All these years, and she had been alive the whole time.

Garrus had not even given a single thought to being angry about it. He saw how Zaia reacted to Liara and her daughters. The look in her eyes, no matter that they had changed color, was obvious. That was the look of someone who had been denied something for so long, and then finally reached it. Pure, unabated joy. There was more to this story than face value. Much more.

Then there was the matter of Talon. Holy shit, Talon. If Zaia was Talon all along, then she had been _very_ active the past couple years, and not in a nice way. Talon was notorious for mass murders and political hits. Garrus himself had heard stories, leaked to him through his old Archangel contacts, of _horrific_ torture methods. Of cold blooded killing sprees in innocent places. Now that he knew who Talon was, it seemed...unlikely.

Then there was the matter of how the fuck _is_ she actually alive? What happened after the Crucible fired? All searches had turned up nothing. Even the Council issued an official statement to the galaxy, saying that The Shepard had perished along with the Reapers.

What had she been doing for ten years? How had she stayed out of the spotlight for that long? Granted, her hair was different, and her eyes, but was that really enough to stifle the entire galaxy? Of course, everyone expected her to be dead, so nobody was looking close enough to see that it was her, but where had she been?

Her pilot. Draga, that asari. He had met her before somewhere. He thought he remembered a colony or something. Maybe he was a guest at some speech or whatever and she attended. Had Zaia been there that day? He couldn't even begin to think that he could remember seeing a red haired woman with violet eyes anywhere in public specifically.

He could tell that Liara was shocked. Over the moon, but shocked. Aethyta was a concern. She showed, for the first time that Garrus had seen in his experience with the Matriarch, absolutely no emotion towards Shepard being alive. When Zaia revealed herself, Aethyta spent a moment staring, then retreated back inside. Who knows what was going through her head.

He and Tali were patiently awaiting their time with Shepard. Liara obviously had first pick, as did Vasha and Imali. They had gone up to the master bedroom, all four of them. There was no hanky panky going on, not just yet, but he imagined that the reunion was...intense. The feelings and emotions rolling around that room at that moment must be incredible.

His thoughts ventured again to the rest of the galaxy. How would this news be taken on an intergalactic scale? For that matter, how would the rest of the Normandy crews over the years take it? Joker? Grunt and Wrex? Miranda and Jack? Of course, there were those who weren't alive anymore.

James Vega died years ago on an apparently botched N7 mission. Steve Cortez died just last year, flying a mission in the Terminus Systems. Ashley Williams was still in a coma after a ship malfunction crashed her transport into the spaceport on Eden Prime.

Thinking about all his friends, his teammates made him cringe. The old Normandy heroes were scattered. Yeah, he kept regular contact with some of them, like Samantha Traynor, Dr. Chakwas and others like Jack and Miranda, and he was almost always in contact with Tali, and through her Liara, but he struggled to remember when he last spoke to Wrex or Grunt. He barely ever spoke to James Vega while he was still alive, the last time being when he wanted Tali to come hack into the N7 databanks.

Joker was a different story all together. He still flew the Normandy for special missions for the Systems Alliance, but he was bitter. He was bitter as all hell about EDI. Still. The last time Garrus had talked to the formerly cheery pilot six years ago, Joker had said that Shepard deserved her death for what she did to EDI.

Garrus flew into a rage and managed to break an arm, a jaw and several ribs before he was pulled away from the pilot. Bone disease be damned, hurting that bastard felt good after what he said. Garrus hadn't spoken to him or about him since. Didn't know if he even still piloted.

Hell, this changed everything. Even his weddings had to be changed now that Shepard was back. Would the Council reinstate her as a Spectre? Would the galaxy accept her? Would they throw her away? Who actually cared what the galaxy would do? He was pretty sure that Zaia would be perfectly happy telling the galactic community to fuck off and just living out her days here on Thessia with Liara and her daughters.

How would Earth react? The ass holes on that planet had based practically everything over the past ten years on her name. Her image. Her title. Shit, they even named a dreadnought after her. The SSV Zaia Shepard had gone into service last year. They tried to play for an extra seat on the Council in Shepard's honor. It didn't work, but still. Would the humans demand that she return to Earth? Would she care? Probably not.

Zaia had cared little for anything outside of herself at first, when he met her on the Citadel asking questions about Saren. Over the course of that mess, she decided to care for them. Her crew and squad. On both their adventures aboard the SR-2, Shepard had cared only for those who took up residence inside the Normandy. Only cared for those who fought with her.

Somehow he doubted that she would care if Earth wanted her back. Really, she probably cared about nothing save her three blue family members at that moment. That was as it should be though. Hell, if he was dead for ten years and then came back, he would be caring about Tali and only Tali.

His omni buzzed with a message, and he glanced at it. An urgent one. He opened it up and read it before having a minor brain aneurism. He read the message again. Then again. Then again.

"The fuck is going on here?" He demanded of nobody. Tali's head shot up to look at him.

"What is it?" She asked, worry in her voice. Garrus didn't sound that alarmed very often. He closed the message and then opened it again, just making sure it was real.

"Its...Its a kill order..." He managed, still in disbelief.

"A kill order? From who?" Tali demanded, getting up slowly.

Garrus squeezed his eyes closed then opened them again. There was something definitely fucked up going on.

"Councilor Sparatus...but Tali...It's for Shepard..." He finished.

"What?"

"Come here and hack this thing, see who else it was sent to." He said, holding his omni out to Tali. Her long, slender fingers flew over the holo board. After a few minutes, she stepped back. The message was sent to him. Just him.

"That makes no sense...Sparatus knows that you would never kill Shepard..." Tali wondered aloud. Garrus shook his head at her. "It didn't say for Shepard. The kill order was for Talon, but we know that Talon is Shepard..."

As he finished, his omni buzzed again with another urgent message. Opening this one, he found himself even more confused. This message was from Councilor Huuru, and it was saying to ignore the kill order. Another message buzzed in. Councilor Tevos this time. Ignore the kill order. Another buzz. Sparatus. Carry out the kill order or be executed for treason. Another message from Councilor Cooper. Ignore the kill order. Another one. Councilor Han'Gerrel. Ignore kill order.

He knew it. Something was terribly wrong here. The Council were squabbling like rabid varren at a carcass. Though it did seem as though Sparatus was the odd one out here. He was the only one who wanted Talon dead, apparently.

Liara was going to kill him. Shepard was going to kill him. Vasha and Imali might step on his remains. Tali will probably skin him and use him for a rug. "Tali...I need to go tell Shepard this..." He started.

Tali planted herself firmly in front of the stairs.

"No way, Garrus. Shepard and Liara just got each other back, and those girls just got their father back. You will not be ruining this for them." She said sternly. He picked her up and put her aside.

"It'll be ruined even more so if a detachment of Spectres come here looking for Shepard. I'm sorry, but maybe she knows more." He allowed, even though he knew he was in deep shit. Tali would be furious with him for this. He would be lucky if she even touched him for the next week.

He strode down the hall with purpose, arriving at the master bedroom door and knocking on it lightly. He heard some shuffling inside and soon the door opened, Vasha looking at him through some of the happiest eyes he had ever seen on the girl.

"Mom! It's Unclue Garrus!" She yelled, opening the door for him. Liara sat on the bed cross legged, while Shepard, who had removed all her armor, leaned against the backboard, Imali in her lap. Garrus paused as he glanced at them. Shepard's face was, as expected, no longer tear stained or even puffy. The woman was never prone to tears. Liara was still a wreck, but a happy one.

"Uh...hey guys...got a minute?"

XXX

The tears had stopped not too long ago, about ten minutes after they got into the master bedroom. Zaia was more than surprised and happy about the tile floors and the silk bedding. Liara had seemingly remembered everything about her and worked it into her daily life.

Vasha and Imali were clearly unsure of how to act, staying close to Liara all while they walked to the room. Once there though, they seemed to develop a curious stance towards her. Now, Liara was sitting on the bed while Zaia stayed standing, simply looking around the room at all the things that reminded her of herself.

"Zaia." She flicked her eyes back to Liara, taking a moment to drink in the exotic beauty that she had been so long denied. Even with a puffed up face and tear stained cheeks, and an almost frazzled look to her, Liara was still the most beautiful creature she would ever lay eyes on.

Vasha and Imali, previously clinging to their mother, took the initiative to approach, their eyes wide. They circled their father, looking at her from all sides while Zaia stuck her hands out and open. The two girls finally came to a stop in front of her, still staring.

"Do I pass inspection?" Zaia asked. Both girls jumped, as if surprised that this person who called themselves their father could speak. Then again, it came as no surprise that the two girls be surprised. She had spoken to both of them when she was masquerading as Jessica on New Grissom Station, and she was sure that they could identify her as the same woman, but it was a different thing entirely. Jessica was a woman who was helping them get off the station and back home.

Zaia was their father who was supposedly dead for ten years while their mother raised them by herself and was suddenly in front of them, in the flesh. Yes, confused and surprised made sense. The two girls slowly inched forward, Vasha getting to her first and reaching out, touching the armor lightly.

"You're...cold." She said, running her hand across the plate of her right forearm. Zaia slowly deactivated the magnetic buckles and offered the hand to her daughter. "Pull." She said softly.

Vasha did just that, and the armored gauntlet slid off Zaia's hand, revealing the skin to her daughter. Vasha reluctantly touched it, running her small blue hands across Zaia's knuckles, then her hand, then onto her forearm. Zaia repeated the gesture with Imali on the left side, letting the girl take the gauntlet off her.

Both the girls eventually grasped her hands and held them tight, tears coming to their eyes. They were too young for melds, so Zaia had no way of showing them, beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was their biological father, but that would come in time. Kneeling down, she pulled the two girls into her chest, kissing each one of them.

"Nice to meet you, girls. I'm your father. My name is Z–"

"Zaia," Vasha spoke up, her eyes bright. Imali quickly followed her sister. "Zaia Shepard. Hero of the Galaxy." She finished. Shepard couldn't help it as tears came to her own eyes and she pulled her daughters in a tight embrace. The girls started giggling before too long, and she released them long enough to give a them each a curious eye.

"Mom told us that you smell like an old krogan!" They laughed in unison. Zaia contained her smirk as she looked over to the bed. Liara was nodding, grinning from ear to ear, and crying at the same time.

"What does mom smell like, then?" She asked her girls. Both of them looked at each other and giggled.

"Uncle Garrus told us that mom smells like a rotten azure!" Imali laughed. Immediately, Liara's face got as red as the blood that was rushing through it. Zaia stared wide eyed at her daughter, not exactly sure what to say.

"No silly! Uncle Garrus told us that someone else called her that." Vasha scoffed, elbowing her sister.

"Did Uncle Garrus tell you what an azure is?" Shepard asked lightly. She knew that Liara heard the vicious undertone in her voice. Garrus was in for some trouble later.

"He said it was a fish!" They agreed together, and Zaia released a breath she had not been aware that she was holding. A quick look up said that Liara had done the same, and she relaxed a little. The explanation was almost offensive as well, but she imagined that Garrus was grabbing for anything to make it sound normal.

She stood up and patted her daughters on their crests, silencing them. She walked over to stand on the side of the bed, Liara in front of her. Again, she took some time to really look at her lover. Liara had not changed much in ten years. She may have grown an inch, and maybe one cup size, but other than that she was still young Liara T'Soni that had watched the Crucible fire from the Normandy.

She extended one of her now free hands, placing it reverently on Liara's leg. Even with the rough robe that she wore, Shepard could still feel how soft her skin was beneath. Nobody she had ever touched, whether sexually or shoving her omni-blade through them had softer skin than Liara. Nobody.

Liara shifted on the bed, coming up onto her knees. She took Zaia's hands in her own, holding them together between hers and lifting them to her mouth. Zaia felt her body react violently when Liara's soft lips kissed her fingers. She had shared a passionate lip lock with the asari outside, but it was frenzied; urgent. This was calm and peaceful, a feeling that Zaia had not felt for these many years.

Deactivating the magnetic buckles throughout the rest of her suit, Zais stood with her arms and legs spread, looking as Liara longingly. "The buckles are off." She said. Liara nodded and, slowly, almost erotically, began to take the armor off.

Shepard grinned inwardly as she felt her knives, hidden in various places, be taken out and discarded. "You keep them in the same places, even after all this time..." Liara mumbled, making a circle around Zaia. Despite that she had never seen this armor before, the knives would always be in the same places, because they were the most efficient.

"Old habits die hard..." Shepard returned. Once all the blades had been removed, Liara began work on removing the Micro-steel itself, pulling it off piece by piece. Underneath her armor, Zaia always wore a skin tight suit, so after removing all of it, Liara quickly went to her closet and returned with things that Zaia could barely remember wearing: her N7 sweatshirt and sweatpants from the Citadel, last worn just before the Battle for Earth.

She grinned and took them, slipping them over the skin tight suit. Things finally felt a bit more normal. She was no longer Talon. She was Zaia Shepard, lover and father. She gathered Liara up in her arms and lightly kissed her, the asari's sweet fruity taste like heaven on her tongue.

"Daddy, that's gross..." Imali commented quietly from the other side of the bed, where her and Vasha had climbed up. Zaia flicked an eye past Liara's head, glaring at her daughter. Her famous glare seemed to have no effect though as both girls giggled at her.

"Daddy is angry, Ima...we're so scared..." Vasha choked out. Liara chuckled into Shepard's chest, wiping her tears on the sweatshirt.

"Welcome to parenting, Zaia." She said with a puffy smile. Shepard thought for a moment before snapping her fingers loudly at the two girls. They immediately stopped giggling and stared at her, sitting straight up.

"I think I'll be fine..." She laughed quietly. She gave Liara another quick kiss before climbing onto the bed and rolling over to where her daughters were. They giggled and tried to run away from her, but she caught Imali trying to crawl over her sister.

"Shepard...I mean, Zaia...where? How? Why? What happened?" Liara began slowly, trying clearly to stop tears from welling up again. Shepard gave a sigh, Imali wriggling in her hands. This explanation was going to take a long time, and it would be difficult. She wanted to tell Liara everything, just spill it out, but there were some things that the girls couldn't hear. At the same time, there were things that she wanted nobody to hear.

"I'll start with this, Liara," She began, reaching over a grabbing one of Liara's hands. "The Council is why. The Council is how. The Council lied to you. Lied to the galaxy." She said. Surprisingly, Liara did not seem terribly surprised by that admittance.

"They have been acting strange..." She mumbled. Zaia cocked her head to the side, a curious look in her eyes that Liara caught and understood.

"I received messages from them, the day after...the day after they wer...the da-" She struggled with the words, but Shepard knew what she was trying to say.

"Its alright. I know which day. What messages?"

Liara wiped her face. "Tevos' came first. Told me to report to the Citadel right away for some _fail-safe_." She said, making quotations with her fingers. Shepard eyes hardened for a bare moment before she waved for Liara to go on.

"Then, not a minute after, I got a vid call from Councilors Cooper and Huuru, telling me to stay away from the Citadel. Told me that my whole life was about to change...they were right..." She said, fresh tears springing to her eyes as she leaned in a put her head on Zaia's shoulder.

Zaia's thought ran. Huuru and Cooper. They did this. They set this whole thing up. Draga was the first asari pilot she had ever had, and it changed her outlook on things for the months while she worked together with her. Huuru is the one who put Draga on the Fallen Angel.

Then this mission to go after Caius. Huuru and Cooper gave her full autonomy for it. Why had they done that? It couldn't be coincidence that this just happened to be the mission she was on when her life would change. She knew what that _fail-safe_ was. The Council was planning to use Liara as leverage to prevent Shepard from murdering every single one of them, slowly and painfully.

Huuru and Cooper stopped that as well. She shook her head in slight disbelief. Those two were on her side, and she hated them for nothing. Actually, all that meant was that there would still be Councilors left when she was done killing who she wanted to.

There was a light knock on the door. Shepard looked at it before nudging Vasha. "Go answer that please." She said. The girl looked at her mother quickly, trying to sneak it in before Zaia saw it, seeking her mothers approval. It was alright, seeing as Liara had raised them alone for ten years. Shepard understood. No hard feelings.

"Mom! It's Uncle Garrus!" Vasha yelled, opening the door and coming back to the bed to sit next to her father. The turian inched into the room, looking horribly guilty. "Uh...hey guys...got a minute?" He asked.

"What is it, Garrus?" Zaia demanded, a slight edge of annoyance in her tone. This was ten years overdue. Garrus could wait his damn turn.

He held up the omni. "Er...message. You might want to read it." He stammered, noting the vicious glare Liara was throwing him. Zaia gave him her address and a moment later, her omni buzzed with the forwarded message. She read it and all the others, noting who was voting for what. She couldn't help a savage grin coming to her face.

Sparatus was on the run. Tail between his legs, and he knew there was nothing he could do. If he was sending out kill orders on Talon the mercenary, that meant that he was tied down. He couldn't very well announce that he was trying to kill Zaia Shepard; nobody would buy it.

"It's fine, Garrus. Just a man trying to escape his fate. Ignore anything else you get from the Council until I...deal with them." She said, stroking Imali's crests, making the little girl whimper in delight. Garrus didn't seem able to comprehend what she said, standing there and staring like a dumbstruck idiot.

"Garrus! Later!" She barked. He snapped out of his thoughts and quickly retreated out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Zaia heard a sigh and looked over to Liara questioningly.

"The door...he doesn't have to break my door..." She sighed again, pointing at the crack that had appeared next to the hinges of it.

"Oh...anyway...The Council found my body after the Crucible fired. I was messed up, but apparently not too bad. They...rebuilt me. Again." She gritted her teeth at the last part. She wasn't really fond of how much of her was cybernetic now, but that's how things were.

Liara looked unfazed by it. "Again? What did they fix?"

Zaia counted off in her head. "Liver was gone, most of my right leg and one lung was beyond repair. Liver and right lung are cybernetic. Most of my leg is as well." She said, pointing to the spots on her body. Liara looked her up and down, running her hands above the now cybernetic organs.

Zaia thought for a minute before tapping both her daughters on their shoulders. The two girls looked up at her, somewhat apprehensive. Still made sense to be apprehensive.

"You two girls want to go down to the kitchen and fetch me and your mother some mango juice?" She proposed lightly. The two girls looked at each other in confusion before looking at their mother. She was staring at Shepard.

"You think I have mango juice?" She asked.

"I know you have mango juice. I can taste it on your lips." Shepard answered with a grin.

"Ew..." Vasha giggled before Shepard attacked her, tickling her sides. Liara recoiled, unsure of what Zaia was saying. Then it came back to her. She had been drinking some when Caius called her down to tell her that Talon was coming. She smiled, shaking her head.

"Next to the Lexica juices, dears. Orange bottles." She said. Vasha and Imali nodded and dashed off, closing the door lightly this time. Zaia wasted no time now that she had Liara alone.

"Liara, I need to tell you how Sparatus kept me away all these years." She started quickly, before silencing Liara's obviously question filled mouth with a kiss. "I need to tell you this before the girls get back." Liara nodded and pursed her lips shut.

XXxXX

When I woke up, I was in some station in deep space. Secret. I still don't know where it is. The doctors and scientists there said that it was a miracle that I survived. Anyway, long story short, I was there for another few days before the shipped me off to the Citadel.

I assumed I was going there to see the Council, maybe for some congratulations, how are you feeling, all that bullshit. Once I got there though, I was met by C-Sec, and they basically blindfolded and handcuffed me. I tried to struggle, but those new shock gauntlets they were using packed a hell of a punch.

They brought me to the Council Chambers like a prisoner, and I was still cuffed when they took off the hood. The Council stood there, looking just as awful and pathetic as they always have. Tevos told me that they were glad I was alive. That they were happy to have someone like me at their disposal.

Valern launched into some explanation about how I would be serving the Council from then on, without question. I told him to fuck off. I wanted nothing more to do with the Council, not after Saren, the Collectors, The Battle for Earth. I wanted to come back to you.

I told them that. Told them that the first thing I was doing was finding you. Sparatus told me that unless I wanted you and our _daughters_ dead, then I could go right ahead and do that. I had no clue that you had given birth. Fuck, I didn't even know you were pregnant!

Only then did it occur to me to ask how long it had been since the Battle. It was a year and a half later by that point. Vasha and Imali weren't even nine months old that day. Anyway, I asked him what the hell he was talking about.

He said that from now on, I would be a ghost. Dead but not dead, and I would be working for them. Period. I wasn't allowed to make contact with you or anyone else. I was to remain a dead image to the rest of the galaxy. I had noticed that my hair and eyes had changed, but to think that it would be just enough for nobody to recognize me.

I told Sparatus that he was out of his fucking mind. He said that he thought I would be like that and showed me a video. It was of us on Ilium, killing Tela Vasir. That traitorous bitch who worked for the broker. Anyway, they had decided that it was all of a sudden an issue.

Sparatus told me that if I dared to make contact with anyone, he would use that video and sentence you and our daughters to death for the murder of a Council Spectre, whether she worked for the broker or not.

Again, I told him he was out of his fucking mind. I was sure that Tevos would never let that happen, that she would grant you sanctuary here on Thessia. We told Tevos about Vasir working for the broker, about how it was necessary to kill her.

Then came the kicker: Tevos said that the Council had voted unanimously for an execution if I violated their _terms_. I couldn't believe it; Tevos betrayed us. Betrayed you, her own species, to get me as a personal attack dog. Valern said that they had planted something in me. Some transmitter so they always knew where I was and what I was doing.

I told them that this was a violation of Council law. Sparatus told me that I never had a chance. They were the Council, and they had no problems breaking their own laws. I was trapped. I wouldn't risk you or the girls. I refused to even entertain the idea of breaking out and going on the run with you. I wouldn't trap my love and daughters into a criminal, on the run type of life.

So I struck a deal with Sparatus. I told him that I would do this. That I would remain dead, not contact anyone, if he made sure that you and the girls would be safe forever. From everything. Told him that if _anything_ happened to you or our daughters. Anything at all that was harmful, then the contract was broken.

He told me that I was in no position to make demands, but Tevos stepped in. She brought it to a vote, and her and Valern overrode Sparatus. He was furious. He asked them if they knew what they were doing. That if I ever managed to break free of the contract, they were all dead. Valern didn't care; he was 37. Not too many years left for him anyway.

Tevos said nothing, but it was a done deal. The contract was signed that way. That first day, I was sent on my first hits. Assassination, Liara. That's what I was for all these ten years. I was an assassin, making hits all over the galaxy for the fucking Council. They gave me an infiltrator, and even that was bugged. All my pilots were condemned to death if they mentioned anything about me.

I came close, twice. Close to you. To some others that had served with me on the Normandy. That's when Sparatus pulled me in and showed me the feed. He had a live feed going here in the house and one going in the girls school. He said he could have them killed any time he wanted. From then on, I stayed far clear of anyone that might be considered my old comrades.

I had been in deep space for several months on a hit for some merc with no contact out when you and the others fought those insect fuckers at Olympus Mons. I was pissed, but the Council deemed that because nothing happened to you specifically, I had no claim to break the contract. I flipped out.

You remember that carrier mass-murder? The one where the fifty two people were killed? That was me. My Woede's went out of control, amplified by the new cybernetics in my system. The Council executed some random criminal from death row and hid me away, studying my syndrome and how to combat it.

I was locked away for a full year before they decided they had a handle on my syndrome. They didn't actually do anything, so I was never sure why the kept me locked up. After that, my life is kind of a haze. Day to day was the same old thing; contract, drink, sleep. Rinse and repeat. For eight and a half years. Then, I got to my ship for a contract one day and Draga was in the pilot's seat. First time an asari had ever piloted for me. She's been the best one, but now I'm starting to think that it was planned.

That's the short version, Liara.

XXxXX

Liara simply stared at Zaia. No words had come yet. No tears either. Actually, her face looked better than it had a few minutes ago. Shepard could see where this was going. Liara hated her, and just couldn't find the words to express it. Zaia knew that she absolutely hated assassination. Just the idea of it used to make Liara angry and sad.

"There is a camera in my house?" She asked, her eyes locked on Shepard's. Zaia's mouth dropped wide open and for the first time in a long time she was legitimately speechless.

"Is...is that all you care about from all that?" Zaia stammered. The usual Zaia Shepard would never be caught dead stammering about anything, but Liara made her do all sorts of things that weren't like her. And she loved it.

"Yes! Someone is watching me, Zaia! Does that not annoy you?" She exclaimed. The door opened and Vasha and Imali walked back in.

"Imali! Go downstairs and tell Auntie Tali to fry all the camera's feeds in this house, please." Liara ordered, her voice broaching no argument. Zaia cocked an eyebrow in surprise as the girl immediately turned around and left the room again.

Vasha came to the bed with the juices in her hand, somehow managing to carry three. Zaia took them from her and then lifted the little girl to sit between them. She opened the juice and sighed dreamily. This image was something from a dream. Sitting on her bed with her lover and daughter, drinking juice.

"No, Zaia...I'm not mad about all the rest...a little shocked and really in need of better explanation, but not mad. You did it for us, and I respect that." Liara said, her voice having gone back to its sweet, soft melody.

Respect? Zaia cared little for respect. She didn't want Liara to respect her. She wasn't sure that she liked that word, _respect._ It tasted bad on her tongue. Respect was dutiful. Respect was grudging. Respect was...conditional. Respect was something you owed to rivals or adversaries, not to someone you love.

"Liara...I don't want you to respect me...I want you t–"

"Later, Zaia," She whispered, coming close once more. "Daughters now, me later." She finished, pecking a chaste kiss to the humans cheek. Zaia begrudgingly accepted that arrangement, frowning despite the lingering moisture on her cheek.

She leaned back against the headboard, drinking luxuriously from her mango drink. It had been so long since she enjoyed something other than Crystal, but she was adamant. She would not drink alcohol, in any form, in front of her daughters. She had watched them from afar, through as inconspicuous methods as she could. She would not ruin it now by drinking like a damn fish in front of them.

"Daddy?" She looked down at her side at Vasha, who was looking up at her with wide eyes.

"What is it?"

"Where have you been all this time?" She asked, her voice ringing with innocence and curiosity. Zaia felt her insides twist and her heart wrench. How could she best describe this to her daughter without scaring the poor girl. Liara was watching intently, obviously gauging how Shepard was going to answer this.

She took another drink of juice before looking back at her daughter. "You see, Vasha...There are bad people out in the world. People who do mean things for no reason–"

"Like Aerin?" Vasha interrupted. Zaia flicked her eyes to Liara, pleading for an explanation. Liara smirked. "A girl from their school. Tore up a picture Imali had been drawing at lunch. Vasha got angry and beat her up."

Zaia grinned widely, looking at her daughter with wide eyes. "Did you now? Well now I know you're my daughter!" She laughed. Vasha giggled wildly, egged on by her fathers wide smile. Liara gave a light warning slap on Zaia's knee.

"Do not encourage her to do that again!" She reprimanded. Shepard gave a quick shake of her head. She would not be encouraging her daughters to do that sort of thing. Not yet at least.

"Yes, Vasha, like Aerin. Anywa–"

"Mom! Auntie Tali wants to know why she has to break the cameras!" Imali yelled from the door.

"Just tell her to do it!" Liara said sternly at the door. Imali shrugged and started to leave again, but Zaia wanted her in the room. "Imali! Come here. Don't worry about Auntie Tali right now." She called. Imali immediately turned around and bolted to the bed, being careful not to spill her juice. She jumped up and settled in next to her sister. Zaia looked up and found herself being glared at, Liara's eyes piercing and steely.

Without breaking her staring match with Liara, she pointed at her omni. Liara nodded and typed through her own. A moment later, she buzzed with the message contained Tali's omni address. Zaia quickly typed a message and sent it off to the quarian.

Looking back at her daughters, she resumed her story where she had left off. Vasha had quickly filled in her sister with what she missed, which really wasn't much, and the two girls were staring at her and sipping their juice as if they were at a movie.

"Anyway...there are bad people out there, and some of them caught your dad. They made me work for them, and told me I couldn't take a vacation to come and see you guys. When you two were taken, they let me find you, and now I'm here. Does that answer your question?"

The two girls nodded animatedly. "Yeah!" They cheered together before collapsing into giggle fits. Zaia cocked an eyebrow at them and looked at Liara out the corner of her eye, a smirk on her lips. "Are they always like this?"

Liara grinned at her daughters antics. "Yes. You should hear them when they watch that show of theirs."

Shepard took a long drink of juice, keeping her eyes on Liara's. "What show?"

Liara chuckled at the thought of it. "It's called The Princess and The Pirate."

"You let them watch The Princess and The Pirate?" She deadpanned before shaking her head quickly. "Sorry, I didn't mean t–"

"It's alright, Zaia. I know what you mean," She assured, and Zaia relaxed a little. She didn't want to start trying to assume control over this family. She had been absent for the first ten years, and she would not be critical of anything. Liara had raised the girls by herself, while still trying to help the galaxy recover. Shepard would not be critical or judgmental.

"I'm not sure how they found it. Somehow, I suspect my father may have played a role in that." She said, reaching over to tickle Imali, sending the girl into renewed fits. Zaia herself was wrestling absently with Vasha, the ten year old trying vainly to pin her fathers hand to the bed. She would have less success with that then she had with Liara or Aethyta. Zaia was far stronger than either of them, from a physical standpoint. Always had been.

"As long as they it's not too harsh on them..." Zaia muttered, allowing Vasha to pin one of her hands. The Princess and The Pirate was a popular asari vidshow that, arguably, was a play off of how Shepard and Liara met. The Princess got stranded in a swamp on some far away world after she was chased there by bandits. She was then found by a dashing Pirate who, after deciding to ransom the Princess, had taken her captive aboard her famous vessel, the Blue Pearl. It was a decidedly mature show, but thankfully the producer had yet to allow full scale pornography as scenes.

* * *

For the next hour, Shepard and Liara played with their daughters, the prying questions thankfully remaining to a minimum. Zaia had a lot to explain. To Liara. To Garrus. To Tali and everyone else that she missed. She didn't exactly have a short and long version written out to hand everyone when they asked.

Finally, Liara asked the two girls to go downstairs and play. They had immediately demanded to know why, to which Liara explained that she needed some time alone with Zaia. Which was the exact truth. Shepard was unsure why she expected some half baked misdirection to throw the girls for a loop. The twins ran off, giggling, arguing and then giggling again as young sisters should.

Zaia watched them go, and she couldn't help the frown that crept onto her face. Even as Liara scooted up next to her and placed a kiss on her cheek, the frown remained. "What is it?" Liara asked, noticing the frown.

Zaia tried to shake it, but she just couldn't. "It's the girls...they...I don't know, they _like_ me..." She muttered. Liara looked taken aback by her words, but the surprise turned into curiosity. "Is that a bad thing?"

Shepard couldn't exactly answer that. It surprised and depressed her a bit, at how..._easily_ her daughters were accepting her. She knew that she should be happy about it, but it felt like she was lying to them. It would almost be easier if they were furious with her. If they screamed and yelled about how she had been gone all these years and now she just expects them to take her in.

That was just the issue. That's what it was. They had been apprehensive for all of ten minutes, and then it was like Zaia had been there all the time. The giggling, tickling, wrestling, joking. It was all so...familiar. But it shouldn't be! They shouldn't be so easy to win over.

"Don't you think its...off? That they have just accepted me?"

Liara shook her head. "I don't know what you mean. I have accepted you..." She mumbled, leaning on Shepard's shoulder. She shook her head, her red hair shaking from side to side.

"That's different. You _know_ me. Hell, we basically fought gods together and won. We knew each other before we were in this bed together. They have known me for all of what? Three hours? Yet they act as if I took them out from between your thighs and have been here all these years beside them..." Zaia explained, growing more uneasy and...uncomfortable with the situation. She should be happy about this. But she wasn't. Not even close. It almost felt like her daughters acceptance of her was a...favor. Something they were doing for someone else and not themselves.

"Zaia, remember that they are ten. Only ten. For asari, that is very young, and remember that asari are genetically different. A typical asari child could have between eight and ten fathers in their lifetime, depending on races. They are genetically programmed to accept their father for who they are." She explained, fiddling with Shepard's fingers.

"But, Liara..." Shepard began, only to be silenced by Liara's lips. "No buts, Zaia. You are their father. Their biological father. They have accepted you. They may not understand where you have been, or why you have been there, but when they are older, we can tell them. When they can meld, you can show them that you are their father."

Shepard scoffed at that. Melding. Melding with her was something that wouldn't be good for anyone. Not even Liara. Shepard's mind was filled with such horrors and darkness that it would probably overload someone. They say that you can feel pain through the meld. The pain that Shepard's mind contained might be too much.

"Liara. Please. I wanted to come back to you...I did. But..." Liara could immediately tell that she was struggling with something. She cupped the humans cheeks and brought their lips together tenderly. She wanted Zaia to be able to tell her everything.

"I...I was scared. Terrified. Horribly terrified of what Sparatus would do to you. Do to the girls. I never slept. I would sit awake for weeks at a time and stare into the stars, hoping that you were safe. I hired an agent to keep an eye on you. An agent that reported to me, and not the Council..."

Liara listened to her intently, her eyes not watering, but they were shaken. Zaia closed her own eyes, trying to hold herself together. The Zaia Shepard that had won the fight against Saren and the geth, who destroyed the Collectors, who brought down Harbinger and the Reapers was fearless. Not scared of a thing.

That same Zaia Shepard had been more terrified, every day of her ten year imprisonment, than she had ever been in the rest of her life combined. She had to hold herself together so she could tell Liara all the things she needed to know.

"She was a ninety year old maiden, who wanted nothing more than adventure, Liara. She was a fucking teenager!" She yelled, clenching her hands in anger, feeling her Woede's begin to act up. Liara laid down and pulled Shepard with her. Shepard rolled to her stomach and crawled into Liara's lap, resting her head on the asari's belly, her arms hugging around Liara's waist. Zaia was sobbing gently now, unable to keep her grief from spilling over the edge.

"Sparatus caught her. She and her entire family were brought into the Council chambers and executed in front of me. My punishment for defying him. Then he showed me the camera feeds in the house and the girls school. It just made me more scared, more frightened for you. I could do nothing. Except wait. Wait for him to trip. To fuck up. To–"

Liara shushed her softly, beginning to rock back and forth on the bed. Zaia had started to sob uncontrollably in her lap. Liara shushed her again and began to stroke her head. Once Zaia's sobs had begun to lessen, Liara closed her eyes and began to hum slowly.

_I see the moon_

_The moon sees me_

_Under the shade of the old oak tree_

_Please let the light that shines on me_

_Shine on the one I love_

_x_

_Over the mountains_

_Over the sea_

_Back where my heart is longing to be_

_Please let the light that shines on me_

_Shine on the one I love  
_

_x_

_I see the moon_

_The moon sees me_

_The moon sees the one_

_I long to see_

_x_

_Seems to me_

_That the Goddess above_

_Created you_

_For me to love_

_x_

_She picked you out_

_From all the rest_

_'Cause She knew_

_I loved you best_

Liara continued to hum and rock after her soft singing stopped, feeling the soothing song settle over her heart. Finally, she stopped humming and looked into her lap. Zaia's tear stricken face was now peaceful, her breathes even as sweet slumber had taken her. She stroked her commander's hair softly, humming the lullaby again to herself.

* * *

**Did you guys enjoy it? I dearly hope so, because I did.**

**The song is a mix of lullaby's written by an unknown author called I See The Moon. This author wrote five versions, and I took verses from parts 2, 3, and 5 to create Liara's Lullaby.**


	14. Shed the Black

**Welcome to Chapter 14 of Violet Eyes! This is a mostly Jack/Miranda centric chapter, and things will start coming full circle. Judgment Day is on the horizon and coming quickly!**

* * *

"Have a good time with the parents then?" Jack asked, hobbling into Miranda's classroom with a knock. She looked up from her paperwork with a smile.

"Yes, it was nice. Met an interesting family. Did you meet Jessica and Draga?"

Jack nodded quickly. "Hell yes! Those two were hilarious! Fighting about their girl Kira, and she was sitting right next to them looking like a turian who forgot his gun!" Jack cackled. She had really enjoyed that particular family. Who knew that two people could fight so much as still love each other.

"Yes, I did like them...spent a few hours with Kira in the cafeteria, telling stories." Miranda admitted, looking back down at the pile of homework assignments in front of her. Grading was usually boring, but she found this set of papers to be rather funny. The assignment was to write about how biotics would help you in a social situation and she had to admit that some of the students had wild imaginations about what biotics could do.

"Telling stories about what?" Jack asked, pulling up a chair and sitting backwards on it, resting her arms on the backrest. Miranda's eyes glazed over in memory.

"Shepard. Kira apparently has a case of hero worship regarding that particular Galactic Hero." She said with a grin. Jack saluted the air.

"RIP, Shepard. You glory hogging drama queen."

"Jack!"

"I don't mean anything bad and you know it." Jack retorted, rolling her eyes but grinning. She had always thought that Shepard made a show of firing the Crucible and then dying on it. She got all the attention and Jack got nothing. She deserved it though. Hell did she deserve every piece of it.

Jack, or at least the old Jack, the Jack that was imprisoned on the Purgatory, didn't respect anyone or anything. She would have stared the Council down and told them to fuck themselves. Nobody deserved her respect, and nobody got it.

When the crew of the Normandy was taken by the Collectors, Jack was positive that Shepard was going to turn tail and run off into the sunset. She was so sure of it that she was packing all her guns and meager belongings into bags when Joker said over the intercom that they were going into the Omega-4 Relay. Fuck if Jack didn't get close to actually respecting the red haired human at that moment.

When they flew out of that base and she watched it explode, shit she was happy. When she turned around and found that the whole landing team was still alive, she felt it. She finally respected someone. Shepard had earned that respect. Through the fire and flames, Shepard earned that respect.

"You know, I think about her every day..." Miranda trailed off, looking into space. Jack cocked an amused eyebrow at her.

"Should I be concerned? Shepard making you a little wet over th–"

"Shut it, you. I think about her dying. I was always so sure that her implants would have made her far less susceptible to death."

"Mi, we don't know what happened on the Citadel that day. Nobody does. Shepard might have been dying before she even fired the Crucible. She might have died the second it fired. We'll never know." Jack said, reaching over and putting her hand on Miranda's. She wasn't alone in that thought process. Jack thought about Shepard every day too. How different the galaxy would be today if Shepard were still around.

These new merc groups would never be as strong as they are if Shepard were here to hunt them down. The Council wouldn't be so...vague all the time. The assassin from Tiber would be a dead man already. Dangerous mercenaries like Talon wouldn't be running amok like they are.

Poor Liara wouldn't be left alone to raise her daughters. The whole galactic scene would be different. It was crazy to think that one woman had that kind of influence, but Shepard did. She did things that nobody else could even dream of doing.

Jack took her hand away and rested it under her chin again, staying quiet as Miranda went back to grading her papers. Jack had always guessed that whatever relationship she ended up in would be primarily physical, barely a moment spent doing nothing. More and more though, she was getting to just enjoy sitting with Miranda while they worked, or just hanging out. It was almost like she was getting to that stage in life where love didn't mean constant sex. She thought it would be boring. She loved it.

"Uh...Dr. Lawson?" Jack flicked her eyes to the door and the student standing there. Sarah stood there, a small bashful smile on her face. Jack snapped and nodded at her, a gesture that all the students had learned to mean that they should continue.

"I was just wondering if you knew where Dr. T'Nirra is?" She asked. Miranda flicked a slightly amused glance at Jack, understanding why Sarah was asking her and not the ex mercenary.

"She should be in her office, Sarah. What do you need?" Miranda answered, putting her pen down. The girl nodded and shifted her weight nervously.

"Well...I sorta forgot to hand in an assignment today, and I was hoping she would take it late. The lights in her office are on, and I knocked but nobody answered."

Jack narrowed her eyes. The lights were on but nobody was in? Impossible. The rooms were equipped with biological lighting systems. If there was someone inside, the lights were on. If not, they were off. Suspicious. Paloma was obviously in there, but she wasn't answering her door. This was her chance to catch T'Nirra doing something she shouldn't be.

"I'll go to her office with you, Sarah. Dr. Lawson is busy." Jack said, getting up from the chair and sliding it back over to where it came from. Sarah giggled at the door, drawing a curious look from her teachers.

"You guys are cute together..." She risked, smiling at them. Jack glared at her for a moment before smirking. She flicked hey eyes to Miranda's, meeting them with a knowing look.

"I told you she knew, Mi..." She said softly before fixing Sarah with a deathly glare. "You spout that to anyone and I will fry you like that Reaper on the Thames!" She snapped. Sarah's eyes only widened.

"So you _did_ destroy a Reaper..." She mouthed in wonder. Jack smirked at her and ushered her out of the room, winking at Miranda on the way out. The professor graced her with a perfect smile before turned back to her work.

"Seriously though, Sarah. Keep quiet about it. Miranda and I like our privacy...for that matter, how did you find out in the first place?" Jack asked once they had put some distance between themselves and Miranda's classroom. Sarah shrugged nonchalantly.

"I can detect love when its in the air." She proclaimed, her nose high up in the air, eyes closed and chin stuck out.

"You do remember that I give you grades, right?" Jack replied coolly. Sarah immediately strained her back and righted her face.

"I sorta...overheard you two..."

"How does hearing us talking give away that we are together?" Jack asked curiously. She knew Sarah was smart, but not that smart. That was like...Miranda level smarts. Crazy genetically engineered smarts that were in no shape or form normal among regular people. It was sexy though.  
"You weren't talking...you were...y'know..." Sarah stammered, her face and neck bright red with embarrassment.

Jack face palmed. "Oh. You overheard that, did you?" She mumbled. Sarah had overheard them having sex. Which was really no surprise, as the two of them had sex regularly in one or the others office. When it was late, and they assumed all the students were asleep or at least in their rooms.

It was not surprising actually, seeing that Sarah was a library bug. She could be found there at all hours, studying or sometimes just being lazy. Why she never chose to be lazy in her room was a mystery.

"Are you...mad at me? For overhearing it?" Sarah asked nervously. Jack couldn't believe that she was actually having this conversation with one of her students. Weird, but at the same time, kind of amusing.

"Mad at you? Nah. Sex is a natural thing, and an awesome thing. When you get into it, you'll figure it out." Jack replied with a grin. She had no qualms about sex, or about being embarrassed. Embarrassment only came from doing things that are unexpected. And unexpected was fun. Unless unexpected was blowing a hole in the side of your ship with a crazy laser and kidnapping your friends to be turned into Reaper goo. That unexpected was not fun.

"I've...I've already gotten into it..." She stammered. Jack turned a semi surprised eye on her. Not every day that your students confided in you about become sexually active. How should she approach this? Even when she taught at the first Grissom, nobody had come to her with _that_ kind of information.

"Recently?"

"...yeah..."

"With who?"

"Marcus..." Marcus. Of course she slept with Marcus. He was her training buddy. Her friend, her classmate. He lived four rooms down from her too. Jack wasn't sure how to proceed. She kept silent, intending to stay that way until her stupid mouth decided to plunge in head first.

"Are you ok?" She asked after a minute. Sarah looked up at her with wide eyes. "What do you mean?"

Jack swore inside her head. She didn't even really know what she meant. "I mean...was it your first time?" Sarah nodded silently. "Well...you aren't...confused about anything? Concerned? Was everything...shit I don't know, was everything...kosher?"

Sarah nodded firmly. "Yeah, it was fine...Marcus didn't force me into anything. He was a gentleman about it..." She said, her voice carrying a bit more substance to it.

"Good...and tell the other girls if they need to talk about sex or _anything._...intimate, they can come to me anytime." She said, feeling a lot better about this. She had been a teacher and a friend to these kids, but this was a new frontier. This was her taking yet another step to making these kids lives the best they could be. It actually felt damn good.

They walked in silence for a good while. The station was huge, and they needed to take a lot of roundabout ways seeing that it was late and a few hallways were sealed off at night.

"It was pretty good..." Sarah said finally, breaking the silence they had been walking in. Jack flicked her eyes to the girl.

"What?"

"The sex...it was pretty good..." She said again, a girly little smile and blush spreading across her face. Jack recoiled and made pronounced gagging noises.

"Please Sarah, do not tell me how good my students are in bed. Really don't want to know." She exclaimed. Sarah burst out in laughter before pushing Jack with a playful little shove, soft enough to not make Jack fall over her cast.

"I'll try not to corrupt your _pure_ mind, Jack."

"Don't talk dirty now." Jack warned humorously. She and Sarah shared a loud laugh together before falling into a much more comfortable silence. They arrived at Paloma T'Nirra's office, and, just as Jack had suspected, the light was on. The only room lit in the whole hallway. Her eyes narrowed at the door, and she suddenly had a terrible feeling about this.

"Sarah, listen very carefully to me. I want you to run back to Dr. Lawson's classroom, and _stay_ there. You will see her on the way back. Get moving." Jack ordered with a jerk of her thumb. Sarah faltered hesitantly.

"What's wrong, Jack?" She whispered. Jack glared at the door, trying to focus enough to tell how many people were inside, if any at all.

"Nothing yet. Move it." Sarah nodded and sprinted back down the hall. She was fast; it would only take her around ten minutes to get back at that pace. Jack pulled up her omni and dialed Miranda.

"Hey, everything ok?" Came the answer.

"No. I just sent Sarah back to your classroom, but I need you to come here to T'Nirra's. Something is wrong, I just know it, and I can't fight properly with this leg if things come to that." She heard some things shuffling on the other side of the line.

"Alright. I'll be there in five." She said before cutting the line dead. It had taken her and Sarah almost twenty minutes to get there, on account of them walking and her cast. Sarah was fast and could get back in ten, but Miranda was far faster. She hated her father for the genetic engineering he did, but it really made the eldest Lawson sister into a physical goddess. Both on the battlefield and in bed.

True to her word, five minutes passed and she was coming to a stop next to Jack. She was barely breathing hard from the sprint, which wasn't a surprise. She took a moment to investigate the surroundings and came to the same conclusion Jack did.

"No lights on except hers..." She muttered, glaring up and down the hall. Jack nodded, keeping her eyes plastered on the semi opaque glass that was set in every door, trying to see if there were shadows moving about behind it.

"Lets figure this out..." She said slowly, approaching the door with care. She had been on the wrong end of door bombs and other traps before, and she had learned some painful lessons about just waltzing up to suspicious doors.

She conjured up the tiniest push she could muster and sent it at the door. The little pulse of energy basically knocked on it, winking out of existence on contact. Nothing happened. So no bomb. At least not a pressure sensitive one.

She placed a hand on the handle, ever so slightly, and pushed it down. The lock clicked open, and Jack held the handle steadily. No trip bombs on the lock. She pushed the door inwards and moved out of the way as quickly as she could.

Nothing happened. So no motion sense bombs. She and Miranda slowly peeked into the room, Miranda having a warp prepped and fizzling in her hand, just waiting for someone to jump out at them. While she lacked Jack's raw power, Miranda's biotic control was fantastic; she might not be able to blow things to pieces as well as her lover, but Miranda could put out a cigarette from two hundred meters. Anyway, any warp from this close would fuck someone up pretty hard.

The room was normal looking. The chairs lined up on the wall appropriately. The desk was still neat. A broom closet was open on the other side of the room. In the swiveling chair behind the desk was Paloma. Jack could see the stupid asari's crests over the top of the chair.

"God...what the fuck T'Nirra? You're making everyone think you're dead in here!" She snapped, rounding the desk angrily. She grabbed the chair and spun it around. Miranda gulped loudly behind Jack, a sentiment Jack was following up shortly.

Paloma T'Nirra was in her chair, at her desk, in her office, yes. With her throat slit ear to ear, the wound surgically clean and precise, and no blood marring her skin or robe. "Well...guess we know why she didn't answer the door..." Jack mumbled somberly. She hated T'Nirra, and she used to enjoy the idea of T'Nirra dying. Now though, looking at her dead body...she was disgusted with herself for ever thinking such a thing.

Miranda inched forward and looked around the desk when she gasped. Jack flicked her eyes up to her love. "What is it?"

"The computer..." Miranda said slowly, staring at the screen. Jack moved up next to her and glanced at it. On it were plans. Numbers. Routes. Codes. And she saw a single word repeated over and over again. Revenant. Revenant. Revenant. From the looks of things, Paloma T'Nirra had been a high ranking officer in the new merc group Revenant.

"Holy shit...look at all of this. It's a treasure trove of information..." She muttered, looking through it. There were locations of supply caches. Locations of garrisons. Plans for heists and other such things, even rendezvous coordinates for ship pirates.

"Oh my god..." Miranda began, backing away from the desk and computer, grabbing Jack's hand and pulling her slowly away with her. Jack followed along, staring at Miranda in concern.

"What is it, Mi?"

"Look Jack," She said, pointing at the desk, Paloma's body, and the computer. "Where have you seen this before?" She asked. Jack focused on it, taking in everything at once. Then it came to her. She flicked her eyes around, taking in the details. It was the same. Exactly. The computer having all the incriminating information on it. The slit throat, with no blood accompanying it. It was all the same. Except for the race of the target.

"This is exactly how Loxx was found on Tiber...holy shit...this was another assassination." She said, her voice shaking. She remembered something and quickly jumped towards the desk, searching frantically. Finally, under a paper, she found the data pad, already on.

"What does it say, love?" Miranda whispered. Jack could not shake her confusion as she read it aloud.

"_Follow me, Lawson. GS-3371. _

_Dock 412 A._

_Bay 14."_

"What do you think?" Jack asked, passing the pad to Miranda. The woman read it a few times before snapping her fingers loudly. "GS-3371. It means Grissom Shuttle 3371. Dock 412 A is the main intergalactic dock down in Discovery. Bay 14, clearly, is the bay there that the assassin wants us to follow them to." She said, a smile spreading across her face. Jack was equally excited. They had a trail to follow, and even if it meant they could be running into a trap, it was exciting. This felt like they were on the Normandy again, heading out to kick ass.

"We'll need to alert Grissom security about this, then we can follow this trail." Miranda said confidently, striding quickly out of the room. Jack went to follow her and happened to look into the broom closet that was open. The door, that had looked normal originally, was definitely _not_ normal. It had a massive gash in it, like someone had gone after it with an omni blade.

Down inside it was a small mattress and some bowls, one of them still having some mushy looking stuff in it. It was almost like someone was being...held in there. Held captive. Someone like...the T'Soni daughters. Everything was falling into place now.

Paloma T'Nirra, who was a high ranking officer in a merc group, orchestrated the kidnapping of the T'Soni daughters, probably for ransom, and was keeping them hidden at the New Grissom Academy. Liara went out and somehow, _somehow_, hired Talon, the most dangerous contract killer in the galaxy, to find them. And find them he did. Along with Paloma.

And that right there answered their questions about Loxx. Talon killed Oriana's batarian aide because he was orchestrating a huge heist that would have surely put Oriana and the colony out on their asses with nothing but varren to stand with.

She hobbled out of the office, shaking her head. Talon had been right. They had not seen him again since getting him to the station. He didn't need his pistols either, both of which were hidden in Jack's apartment on the stations upper residential floors. He had a blade with him.

She steadily began to wonder if this was really a good idea. With her leg in the state it was, she couldn't fight. She would be more burden than anything else with how she was. Then again, Talon's elusiveness was legendary; if he left them directions, he wanted them to find him. He had been far from the bloodthirsty killer the news vids made him out to be when they met him. Maybe this was more than it seemed.

Either way, they needed to pursue this. It was their duty as professors to find who killed their colleague, and they would.

* * *

"So you told the academy we were going to check on your sister?" Jack asked again, amusement ringing in her voice. Watching Miranda concoct schemes and cook up lies was always fun to watch. Halfway because they were funny, and the half because they always worked.

"Yes. I reasoned that because the scene was so similar to the one on Tiber, I wanted to go check on Oriana. It was easy to say that you should come because you were on the security detail with Shiala." Miranda proclaimed proudly. She quite enjoyed deceiving people. Not in a bad way. At least not all the time.

"Good. Where is this damn shuttle?" Jack complained, looking around the hanger. Miranda shared in her frustration. They had specifically asked for shuttle 3371 and were told that it was available. Now, they had waited for almost an hour in the shuttle bay at the academy, and the shuttle had still not arrived. Miranda smirked at her lover. Jack was not a patient woman. She was when students were involved, but when she was looking to be busy, patience was the last thing on her mind.

"Relax, love. If someone as dangerous as Talon left a trail, then he isn't going anywhere." She glanced downward and found her eyes on Jack's slender hips and round rear. The leather pants that Jack decided to wear were as tight as they could possibly be, and Miranda would have been lying terribly if she said she wasn't spending her time enjoying the view.

She stuck her booted foot out and playfully nudged Jack on the bum. Jack turned and swatted unsuccessfully at the perpetrating foot, fixing Miranda with a smoldering eye. "Don't start something you won't finish, Lawson." She warned, winking at her.

"Start something? On the contrary, I might just like what I see..." She trailed off, taking a very vested interest in investigating her fingernails. She loved teasing Jack like this, seeing how much she could get the woman going.

"You might just regret that statement, Lawson..." Jack muttered, grinning mischievously. Miranda knew what that grin meant. At some point soon, she would be ambushed. Roughly. Who knows when, but it would be soon. Probably as soon they had some privacy. She would have to temper it though, on account of her lovers leg.

"Dr. Lawson?" Miranda looked to her right at a salarian, who wore a shuttle pilot uniform. "I am the pilot for shuttle 3371." He finished.

Jack scoffed as she tromped past. "About time you got here. We're headed to–"

"Dock 412 A, Bay 14." The salarian interrupted, marching past a surprised Jack and an equally surprised Miranda. He knew where they were heading? Miranda was sure that they hadn't included that in the request for a pilot...

"I was aware that you would be requesting my shuttle and given instructions for when you did. Please, come this way." He gestured to a shuttle near the edge of the bay. Miranda and Jack fell into step behind him, meeting each others eyes only briefly, the unspoken conversation taking place quickly. Talon had planned this out extensively.

They boarded the shuttle with the salarian, the three of them staying silent while the pilot requested permission to take off. He got it, and before long they were sailing through the city of Discovery. The city was a shining star of modern development and infrastructure, hundreds of newly made technologies going into its reconstruction.

At the north end of the city was the spaceport and docking bays, a massive tower spiraling almost a mile into the sky over the Discovery cityscape. Every thousand feet, huge stabilizing units generated mass effect fields to keep the tower from falling or even swaying.

The pilot got clearance to enter Dock 412 from the control center and, once inside, veered to the A side of the wide docks. Finally, he put the shuttle into bay 5. Miranda and Jack got out, Jack tossing a credit chit to the pilot. Through some unknown development in their relationship, Miranda had somehow ceded money matters to Jack. She initially thought she would be annoyed by it. In fact, she enjoyed it.

They watched the shuttle take off again and left the bay. Miranda cast a small glance at Jack and noticed a sheen of sweat developing on her brow. She reached out and took Jack's hand, stopping her.

"What is it, love? You're sweating." She wiped the woman's brow, her eyes mixed with concern and uncertainty. Jack lightly swatted her hand away.

"It's nothing. Bit nervous is all." She hedged, trying to turn away to keep heading for bay 14. Miranda held fast onto her hand, pulling her back. Again, she tried to wipe Jack's brow and again was swatted away.

"You don't get nervous, love. I've always known that...is it your leg?" Jack bit her lip and looked away, shame obvious in her eyes. Jack hated admitting weakness, no matter how great or small it was. Always trying to be the tough one. She had probably been in pain for a while now and decided to not say anything.

"Have you taken painkillers?" Jack nodded briskly. Miranda shook her head as she placed her hands on her hips. "You're lying." She stated evenly.

"How would you know?" Jack retorted, crossing her arms on her chest. Miranda reached into the bag on her back and pulled out a small container, rattling it.

"Because you gave me your pills and asked me to keep them for you. Here," She grabbed Jack's hand again and dumped out three pills into it. She snatched a water bottle from a passing cart and pushed it into Jack's other hand. The woman stared at the pills with disdain.

"Please don't put yourself in unnecessary pain, love. Suck up your pride and just take the pills. You have two more weeks in the bio-cast, then just a light brace. Stick it out until then." She ordered sternly. She was not only a doctor, but also Jack's lover. Jack would not overdo things under her watch.

Jack took the pills and downed the water, tossing the bottle into a nearby trash chute. She looked up at Miranda sheepishly. "Thanks Mi." She mumbled. Miranda smirked at her and quickly pecked her on the cheek.

"Let's go. We have somewhere to be." She started walking towards bay 14, stepping slow enough to allow Jack to keep pace comfortably. It was slow going, but they eventually came upon a holo board with the number 14 on it.

This specific bay was mostly empty, the only people milling about being maintenance workers, guards and a single snack cart. Docked in the bay was what looked like a luxury shuttle, much larger than the Grissom shuttles. It was an interplanetary shuttle, equipped for travel between systems.

"Well...we're here...what now?" Jack muttered, looking around. Talon's stupid instructions were mum on what exactly they were supposed to be doing at this bay. As she spoke, the shuttle suddenly whirred to life. At the far side, a hatch opened and an asari walked out dressed in commando leathers. She came around the bay towards the two of them.

"Kira!?" Miranda exclaimed once the asari got close enough for her to see her face. She smiled at them and bowed.

"Dr. Lawson. Jack. It's good to see you." She said politely, straightening up from her bow. Miranda glared at her, eyes narrowed and a shockwave pulsing in her hand. A flick of light from beside her said that Jack had something similar burning in her hand as well.

"What's going on? Is your name even Kira?" She demanded. The asari nodded, keeping her hands clasped in front of her. On her back was an assault rifle, but she made no attempt to reach for it.

"Yes it is. Judging that you are here, I assume that you found Talon's instructions?" Miranda nodded carefully, slowly inching around to place herself between Kira and Jack. Asari commandos were fast, and though she would never say it out loud, Jack was the exact opposite of fast. If this asari tried to attack, Jack would never be able to move in time.

"Please. I understand that I helped in deceiving you, but there is no need to be so tense. If you thought that you might have to fight anyone, rest assured. There will not be combat where I am to take you." Kira declared, turning to walk towards the hatch.

"Where exactly is that?" Jack called, making no move to follow. Kira looked over her shoulder, stopping for only a moment.

"Would you like me to tell you what I was ordered to, or the truth?" She said, her voice soft and sincere. Miranda let her shockwave she had in her hand dissipate, and she cocked her head to the side.

"What did Talon want you tell us?"

"He wanted me to tell you that you were going to the Citadel." She answered.

"Where are you actually taking us?"

"Thessia. Please, make yourselves at home on the shuttle. Talon wanted you to be comfortable, Jack." She said, turning again and heading to the hatch. Miranda couldn't help but be curious. Talon wanted Kira to tell them that they were going to the Citadel, but the were actually headed to _Thessia_? Why Thessia? Then, to compound things, Talon apparently wanted Jack to be comfortable on the ride. Why would he want that of all things?

It made decent sense. Talon had seen Jack's leg when he met them in Discovery. Maybe he wasn't so bloodthirsty after all. Miranda and Jack reluctantly followed after the asari onto the ship, clasping hands tightly. It really was a luxury ship; the main cabin was ringed with expensive furniture and nice decorations. There was a bar and a large kitchenette, with bottles of wine on ice and large bowls of fruit.

"Take a seat. We'll be leaving shortly." Kira had emerged from a hallway that led to the front of the ship, most likely the cockpit. She wore a genuine smile, and Miranda saw a chance for her and Jack to talk about this quickly. She took Jack by the arm and led her to a large loveseat..

"Mi, what do you think?" Jack whispered, allowing herself to be sat down. Miranda wasn't entirely using this as a chance for them to talk. She really did want Jack to sit down and take some pressure off her leg. Taking Jack to the seat fulfilled both purposes.

"We see where this goes. She already told us that Talon wanted her to lie, and she chose not to..."

"Can we be sure that_ that_ wasn't the lie?" Jack mused, her eyes hard and her hand twitching.

"I think we can trust her, for now at least. I'll call Liara; she'll know that we're coming." She whispered back quickly, kissing Jack softly on the cheek and sitting down next to her.

Kira smiled at them and moved up to a control panel on the wall. A moment later, the hatch of the ship closed. She touched a finger to her ear, activating a headset. "Yes. Clear." She said. A few minutes later, the ship lurched out of the bay.

"We'll be there in about six hours. Help yourselves to anything on the ship. It is all payed for in full." Kira explained, gesturing to the cabin. Miranda looked around, wondering just how much this all ran up. She was no stranger to astronomical amounts of money; the Lazarus Project ran into the hundreds of billions of credits, and she handled most of that to procure the best equipment.

Still. For a transport, luxury or not, this looked pretty expensive. While her eyes wandered, she caught Kira stealing a glance over at them. When she noticed Miranda's eyes, she turned away stiffly and marched back down towards the cockpit.

* * *

"We left Horizon three hours ago," Kira said into the comm, sitting next to the pilot. "Yes. Both of them came. Yes." She spoke in an almost robotic tone, too upset to really put any inflection in her voice. Her world had changed, and she wasn't sure if it was for the better or worse.

"Good. Are you nervous?" The voice was tired and strained. Kira understood that things must have been intense since she came back to life.

"About?" She hedged, hoping that Shepard wouldn't force her to do this.

"Coming back to the estate. You will explain yourself to your sisters, and to Liara."

"What about you?" She sniffled hopelessly.

Kira was shocked and mortified to find out that Talon the mercenary was in fact Zaia Shepard, the father of the T'Soni daughters. In the moment that she found out, she was far more afraid of the very image of the Hero of the Galaxy than she had ever been of Talon. Compounding that she had actually aided in the kidnapping of Shepard's own daughters, she had been a wreck.

To her surprise, Shepard had not killed her. Had not taken revenge for her daughters misfortune. In fact, she asked for information. Information to the tune of how accepting the T'Soni commandos would be of her. Kira did not lie when she said that her sist...former sisters would be suspicious and reluctant to accept her. The former spectre seemed unconcerned with that, like she had some sort of plan. With all she had seen since leaving Thessia with 'Talon', Kira had no doubt of that.

Shepard demanded that Kira help her get the girls back. Fearing for her life if she said no, Kira went along with things. Now though, the T'Soni girls were back at home, with their mother _and_ father. Two things Kira no longer had.

Shepard had told her, once they were off Grissom Station, that she had discovered the fate of Kira's family in Perin T'Nirra's files. Just as she had feared, Kira's family had been killed as soon as Vasha and Imali were taken. She was still reeling from that information when Shepard gave her the instructions to wait at the docking bay for Jack and Miranda Lawson to come, then bring them to Thessia.

"I have made my decision." Shepard grated out, cutting the line. Kira closed the call with a tear. Maybe Shepard would be merciful and end her life quickly. Maybe the commandos would do it. Better yet, maybe Na'lara could overload her brain with biotics and end her painlessly.

She wiped her tears away with a shaking hand. She had foolishly believed that her family would be safe if she helped the T'Nirra's kidnap the T'Soni girls. She had thought that mercenaries would keep their word. She had alienated her family at the T'Soni estate, believing that she would have at least one family to return to. Now, she had no blood family, and the T'Soni commandos would never accept her again. She was an outsider, a lost soul. No home, and no purpose.

For what did she have to live for anymore?

XXX

"So...correct me if I'm wrong...but all the political hits over the years...that was you?" Garrus asked, sitting next to Shepard on the top floor balcony of the estate. Zaia had woken from her peaceful sleep not too long ago, groggy but content. Liara's lullaby singing skills had not dulled. They had always put her to sleep while they were on the Normandy, and it's effect had no diminished.

She had stayed in the room and sent Garrus a message, telling him to come up to the top balcony. They had been sitting there for a good hour now, him mostly listening to her describe her life for the past ten years. To her surprise, he was more interested in her experiences rather than why she was doing them.

"Yeah, those hits were me." She said again, taking a draw on the Crystal she had him sneak up. She wouldn't drink it in front of her daughters, and neither were present. It would take her time to break from her addiction to the smooth drink.

"So, the Council forced you into all this shit, huh?"

"Yeah. Sparatus was the mastermind." She grunted, spitting the name like it was the most bitter tasting morsel in the universe. The view that this balcony provided was spectacular, the golden glow of the setting sun shining across the lake next to the estate.

"Well...now you're here, Shepard," Garrus began, holding his glass up to her. She reached over and tinged hers off of it. "Dump the past," He proclaimed.

"Shed the black,"

"Don the truth,"

"And unfold the future." She completed the mantra, downing her glass while Garrus did the same with his dextro cocktail. When things had been grim, her and Garrus had somehow manufactured this mantra of theirs. Only the two of them knew it; nobody else had ever recited it with them.

When she fell into depressions about her past on Earth while they were on missions or on the Normandy, Garrus was the one who suffered through it with her. He helped her keep her mind right. There was no romantic connection between them, but they were closer than most partners would ever be.

"Garrus, I'm going to need your help. With a few things..." She said, pouring herself another glass of liquor. The click of talons on glass signaled that the turian was doing the same.

"Anything Shepard. You were my commander, and you always will be." He answered, leaning back in his chair. Zaia knew that she would always be able to trust him with important things. What she was planning would not make her popular in the T'Soni household for a while, but it wasn't important. The safety of her family was important.

"Sparatus has a mole here. One of the commandos..."

"Alright. I'm assuming that you have proof, so what do you want to do? She reached to the table next to her where her favorite blade lay. When she was thinking or planning, she often played with the knife, twirling it or tossing it about. Picking it up, she began to spin it in her fingers. On the ground to the right of her chair was a bag, and inside that bag lay about ten other knives. At the edge of the balcony, leaning against the railing was a wooden board with a target painted on it.

"I don't have proof. He knew that I arrived here with Vasha and Imali. The only people who were aware of that were you, Tali, Caius, Aethyta, and the commandos."

"What about your pilot?" He inquired. Zaia shook her head knowingly. "Draga is on our side, my friend. I'm not worried about Aethyta, Tali or you. Caius is hiding from Sparatus, so I know it isn't him. That only leaves the commandos."

Garrus nodded his approval. "Sound reasoning. What do you want to do about it?"

Zaia flipped the knife, catching it by the blade. "You know that commando that helped the T'Nirra's?"

"Kira..." Garrus spat with disgust.

"Yes, Kira. She's coming back here right now," Shepard flicked the knife at a wooden board, hitting about an inch above the bulls eye. "She is actually the only commando I trust."

Garrus started, disbelief in his voice. "How? She helped those bastards take your daughters!"

"I _know_ what she did, Garrus. I took her with me to find them for a reason. She told me that the T'Nirra's took her family hostage and threatened to kill them if she didn't get them inside the estate." Shepard said morosely, grabbing another knife from the bag and flipping it around.

"So she's naive and a traitor. What's your point?"

"I took her with me to gauge what kind of person she is. And she is no traitor. She was scared, and fear is the greatest motivator for the young," Zaia explained, catching the knife and flicking it at the board in one fluid motion. It struck a few inches higher than the first blade. "She made a common mistake; she sees only the good in people and assumed that T'Nirra would keep her word and not harm the family. She's too young to be cynical, and it bit her in the ass. Her family is dead, Garrus."

Garrus leaned back in his chair, taking the information in stride. "Well, I guess I can say that I'm sorry for her, but that still doesn't absolve her." He sneered with contempt.

"Listen to yourself, Garrus!" Shepard snapped, glaring over at him. "My daughters are alive and well, sleeping in their own beds tonight. Her family is _dead_, Garrus. There are few costs as steep as that." She growled.

"Are you telling me that you weren't mad that she gave away your daughters?" Garrus hedged, eying Shepard intently. Zaia grabbed another knife from the bag, twirling it pensively.

"Don't play me, Garrus. Of course I was mad. Furious. I almost passed out from the my Woede's, I was so angry. I fully planned on killing her once I found the trail."

"So what happened?" Garrus wasn't a vicious or violent turian. He was really playing the devils advocate right now, and Zaia knew why. He had been a father figure to her daughters over the years, and while he wasn't about to claim them as his own, he took their kidnapping hard.

"I started noticing things about her. Simple mistakes. A clip not loaded properly. Lack of meditation. That's when I finally realized that she is just a kid. I asked her. She's only 110."

"That's not that young, my friend," Garrus snickered into his glass. "The foremost scientist and Prothean expert of the galaxy, who had a direct hand in fighting the Reapers, _and _is the mother of your daughters is only 119."

Shepard couldn't help but crack a small smile. "I think we can both agree that Liara is a special case."

"Or that you are an asari cradle snatcher." Garrus chuckled. Zaia's smile widened.

"And what a catch she was...anyway. What happened to Kira was not her fault. More on that later though. I have a plan for finding this mole."

"What is it?"

Shepard got up and retrieved the knives that were stuck in the board. "I'm going to detain the commandos here and question them. Every single one. I want you to help me. One of them is a leak, and I intend to find out who." She grunted as she pulled the last knife from the board. Garrus considered it silently, his eyes scrunched in thought.

"Alright, I'm on board...but couldn't you just ask Liara to force them to spill? I mean, they're damn near fanatical to her."

Shepard shook her head vehemently. "No. If it were that simple, the mole would never exist. Whoever it is is someone that is acting..."

"What about Kira? She already betrayed Liara once." Garrus reasoned.

"Wouldn't make sense. Sparatus would want the mole to make sure nothing happened to the girls. Kira made something happen to them. It's exactly opposite. It's not her." Shepard stared out over the lake from the railing, her brain ticking slowly, calculating her moves. Sparatus wasn't going anywhere. That turian could run as far as he wished, she would catch him.

Garrus walked up and joined her at the railing, staring out at the lake as well. "I'm here for you, Shepard, Tali as well. Whatever you need, just say the word." He said. Zaia nodded absently, her eyes meeting the sunset. She would fix things. She would be the father and lover she couldn't be for ten years. Never again would she leave her family.

Never.

* * *

**Who had fun? I did. Read and review and enjoy! Also, if you have ANY questions, please do not be afraid to leave a review or PM me. I have not always been great with responding to reviews, but I will try harder. I promise.**


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